Quick Reference Chart

Finishing

When you start your project (or motif)leave enough thread from the slip knot (this is the tail), to crochet over as you work on your project. Even though this is at the beginning of the project it also qualifies as 'finishing' your work.
When you have completed your project (or motif) leave thread long enough to thread a tapestry needle and weave this into you work going down through the center of stitches and along the bottom of the row to secure the thread. This should be done as you go along or you will have a big job to do at the end of the project.

Washing

Hand washing is still the best way to wash your hand made cotton and wool fine knits and crochet articles if they are small enough to handle easily. But when you can't wash by hand use the gentle cycle of your washing machine and luke warm or a little bit warmer, but not so warm that the article will shrink. Cotton and wool do shrink.

Putting small items into a lingerie bag to wash should cut down on the "wear and tear". And it would be best to make it a small load, as well. Wool articles need Woolite and fabric softner, so does silk. Cotton can take a regular detergent and stain products like Spray 'n Wash, or Whink's Wash Away. I would not be afraid to use Oxyclean, either. Amway or Shaklee products are great also and used in accordance with their directions. I would also suggest using fabric softner for cotton as this does seem to have a limited, but useful, coating on the fabric that makes stain come out easier.

If you are dealing with an older vintage or antique article, use Woolite and Rit's color remover as these are the gentlest products we have. And hand wash.

Blocking

Small articles usually only need to be spritzed with water, pulled into shape and left to dry.

One wonders how to block a large object (like a tablecloth and/or bedspread) when one does not have the room to lay it out flat and pin it to whatever. One way is to:
    With right side together, fold article in half. Pin folded pieces on a padded board or any other large, well padded, flat surface, with rust proof pins, gently stretching to one half the measurements specified in the directions. Press through damp cloth. Leave pinned in position until thoroughly dry. If necessary repeat above directions on opposite side.

For smaller items rinse them in tepid water, gently squeezing out the moisture, wrapping them in a towel, and gently squeezing (not wringing) as much moisture out as you can. Then proceed as above.

Another way of blocking items is to spray wet them (in olden days we had sprinkler bottles — you bought a sprinkler cap and stuck it in a soda-pop bottle. That worked very nicely. The alternative is to put water in a bowl and dip your hand into it shaking off the water onto the article to be blocked. This works better than our modern spray bottles for this purpose.) or get a pressing cloth (plain white cotton dish towel) wet and using a hot iron, steam the article to block it.

These instructions came from a Star Beginner's Manual from the 40's or early 50's:
"Dissolve quarter cup (dry) starch in ½ cup cold water. Boil about 1¼ cups of water, remove from flame, then slowly stir the starch mixture into boiling water stirring constantly. Place back on flame until it thickens. As soon as starch is cool enough to handle, dip article and squeeze starch through thoroughly. Wring out extra starch. The article should be wet with starch but there should be none in the spaces. Pin article in position and leave until thoroughly dry. If steam iron is used iron after it is dry. If regular iron is used, dampen article slightly before pressing. Leave in position until thoroughly dry."

Well i decided that i would not pre-wet my snowflakes; I took a shortcut. Laid out the wax paper on the board i am using and laid out a snowflake and sprayed it, then soaked up the spray on the back side of the snowflake and pinned it. Put the board near a heater vent to speed up the drying.

Blocking Snow flakes: start at one point (12 o'clock) and pin then go to the opposite point and stretch, not too much, and pin that point. Then go to 3 o'clock point ant repeat and do this all the way around with each major point. Then if you have sub-points, pin those.

Also; some snowflakes start and end in a position that makes for using the thread as a hanging loop. By pulling out the thread a long as you want the loop to be and the a little extra for a knot you can do this and save yourself a step. After tying the knot, pull loop so that the knot is flush to the back of the snowflake and put a tiny dab of fabric glue on the knot.

Starching Ruffled Doilies requires some tougher techniques than normal and yet this set of instructions requires less starch than above... I found this sandwiched into a pattern for a doily booklet-it is also from the 1950's period:

Dip doily in hot {wait till the starch mixture cools} starch (2 heaping tsps Argo Gloss Starch to 1 cup water). Roll in paper towel to absorb excess. Stretch ruffle a small section at a time and press partly dry thru several thicknesses of cloth, stretch and pin down center right side-up in a true circle on waxed paper and press flat. Stretch Ruffle and pin down 3 daisies in line with each Pineapple. Stuff crumpled wax paper in each ripple between pineapples. Leave until dry.

An old Workbasket publication has this for it's recipe for starching
"For heavy starching, use 1/2 cup of starch with 1/2 cup cold water. Stir until completely dissolved then add 2 quarts of boiling water and cook slowly, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes transparent. Still another starch mixture (still in same article I am quoting) can be made by dissolving 1/4 cup starch in 1/2 cup cold water. Boil slowly until thick, gradually add 1 1/4 cups of cold water. Boil stirring constantly, until starch clears."
"Choose and make desired starch solution. dip doily and squeeze starch through it thoroughly. Squeeze out extra starch, being sure there is none in spaces of crocheted piece. Stretch and pin piece in true shape on a padded surface, allow to dry thoroughly. If the piece is ruffled, shape and pin folds of ruffle in position by putting pins at the outer edge and inner point of each scallop around the center. Stretch ruffle and arrange in fluted scallops by pressing it flat at the outer rim of each scallop. If scallops join, draw ruffle upward."

No where in any instructions does it say to use corn starch....What did they use?!

Sugar Starching

Another method of starching is sugar boiled and cooled and this is good for ruffles on ruffled doilies.
Light: 1 cup water and 1/4 cup sugar
Heavy: 1/4 cup water and 1/4 sugar

For Baskets

Starching a basket requires tougher starching and the Victorians were equal to the task, the following will tell you what they used to do: "The basket must now be stiffened. Make some thick starch into which put a little glue. and let the basket lie in it till thoroughly saturated and nearly cold, then draw the crochet into shape, blocking it as it were with the hand, and drawing up each point of the crochet in place. Dissolve 1 oz. of shellac in spirits of wine (it takes at least a day to dissolve), do not have it too thin, with this mix some Brunswick black or brown Japan varnish, according to to the color you desire the basket to be, and brush it over the crochet outside and inside carefully, not to allow a bit of white starch to be seen. After it dries, varnish it with clear spirit varnish."

Now-a-days we have all kind of varnishes and fabric stiffeners that are water based. Products like Pretty Petals, Stiffy and Mod Podge can be used. Those products that are used for découpage may be used for baskets and such as they don't yellow the paper. Which one you use depends on the functional use of the item.