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Mary Ellen's Best Press? I was at Hancock Fabrics today and they have it for $3.47 a bottle! It's normally $6.95 for the spray bottle! Smells great when you use to press quilting blocks or just for ironing clothes.

For those who don't know what this is, it's an alternative to starch. It doesn't leave a residue like starch does. It comes in three scents...unscented, lavender and fresh linen. It leaves your fabric chrisp and not crunchy like starch. It doesn't leave a flaky mess like starch either. You can spray/press your pillow with the lavender cases before going to bed and the scent relaxes you so that you can sleep quicker.

I use this, it's great for getting wrinkles out of fabric.

I have to use the unscented,the scents are just too strong for me.

I got some as a gift & I love it! Can't wait to use it on my summer cottons & linens. Oh yea, you're supposed to use it for quilting, too!

Does it help you overcome your husbands snoring if it is sprayed on the pillowcase?!lol

Maybe a little dab behind both ears & he won't think of sleeping, let alone snoring??

I mean both YOUR ears, of course!

owie...I wouldn't know but it's worth a shot...LOL. My DH is in Boston this week so I'm sleeping good! I bought the lavender scent today. I will gave to try it when he comes back home.

Starry...if he ain't sleeping he may be up to something eles. Let the man sleep! LOL

Yesterday, I bought some lavender/vanilla dryer sheets for cleaning my iron. Those smell great too. The DG brand at Dollar General is only $1 for 40 sheets!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Quilts"R"Fun,

I won some, I like using it. I would rather have a non scented kind.

I use the non scented for EVERYTHING! It's wonderful. Hubby's shirts, daughter's dresses, sewing, EVERYTHING! We stock up every time it goes on sale.

No Hancocks close to me .....will check and see if it's online at that sale price.

eta: yes, you can buy it online at $3.47 for 16 ozs. but it cost $4.95 to ship it. Guess I'll stick with Magic Sizing, which I do like to use!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Downsouth,

I use it and bought a gallon of it at a LQS using a half off JoAnn's coupon. Otherwise, it sells for $7.95 for a 16 oz. bottle. I reall like it. Helps settle down and smooth out those seams.

I bought 3 bottles today...My MIL has never used it before so I let her borrow a couple bottles to try...I wonder if I'll see those bottles again...LOL.

I picked some up a few days ago...at the sale price, of course.

I used to use it all the time, and really like it. But now I make my own.....so easy and MUCH CHEAPER and if you don't want a scent, you don't have to put one in it. Let me know if anyone wants the "recipe" and I'll be glad to post it.

I have been using it for 3 years now and love it.

Yes, I love the way it makes the fabric feel. I use the blue one - I guess it's ocean-flavored. But one thing has me worried. My Shark iron looked like it had a cloudy film on it. I thought it would wipe off like Magic Sizing does, but when I tried to wipe it off, it wasn't a film. It had taken the finish off the iron. Don't know what's that all about. It doesn't seem to affect the fabric.

brb
I just checked. It's called Caribbean Beach. Lovely scent.

OUMom..please post the recipe.

Kay-lin...I've never heard of it doing that...maybe contact Mary Ellen's Best Press and see what's in it that would do that.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Quilts"R"Fun,

Here's the recipe for the spray starch:

2 cups distilled water
2 oz Vodka (can be a very cheap brand) or can
use rubbing alcohol (but then the spray starch
will smell like alcohol)
1/2 cup Sta Flo Liquid Starch (found this at Wal-Mart)
Few drops of essential oils (can be found at Wal-Mart with the candles and potpourri). A
little bottle will last a long time and it only
cost $2.00. It comes in alot of fragrances. I usually get lilac or lavender, but sometimes I use Sandalwood Vanilla for my husband's things. He says he doesn't want to smell like a flower and wants a "Manly" smell. But if you don't want a fragrance, then just leave the essential oils out.

Mix all of the above together and put it in a
spray bottle. I saved some of my old Best Press
bottles and put it in them. I use it alot for when I'm quilting and pressing my fabric so I mix up big batches at one time. The spray won't be clear like the Best Press. It is usually a cloudy white color, but it still works just as well as the Best Press and much cheaper. I think it is cloudy because of the Sta Flo Starch. Hope you all enjoy it.

OUMom

Thanks for sharing the recipe. If I'm not mistaken, I think you've shared this before. Lots of new folks here soit's good toput it out there again.

I love the purple one. I think the scent is the best part, and I usually don't like anything perfume-y.

I love Best Press!!! That's a really good price for it. I mostly use it to iron my cotton shirts. Have used it for blocks a couple of times.

Wanted to add that it was the plastic part of the iron that discolored, not the metal part.

my quilter friend swears by it..!

I tried the Best Press spray a few years ago (or something similar) and really liked it.

Have been using OUMOM's recipie (Great to see you posting again) since it was posted years ago.. Really works - I don't use the essential oils anymore - was too much in the small sewing room.

Kay-lin...oh okay....

I use the best press to press larger pieces of fabric...like the backings. I do use steam when I press/iron so spraying isn't really necessary unless something is being stubborn. I like to keep it on hand for that.

I use it all the time now. I have the blue one now. Like the purple too. It hasn't stained anything and no film on iron.

I have both...I sprayed the bed last night about 30 minutes before going to bed. The lavendat scent does help you go right to sleep and I slept well!

I've got Caribean Beach...was going to iron my pillowcases with it last night, but had to clean off the ironing board. Wish I could break THAT habit...putting stuff on the ironing board. It's just such a handy height to sort stuff out!!!

mmmmmmmthat stuff smells good. I usually don't like scented stuff at all. Picked up some Pina Colada scented deoderant by mistake. Looked at one and picked up another...it was so awfull (especially when warmed up by my pits)...I had to throw it away. I smelled like a fruit salad. Dreadful!!!

nancy20...I didn't know it came in those scents. We always get unscented, lavendar and clean linen at our store.

You smelled like fruit salad? ...LOL

I'll have to try it...or at least OUMom's recipe.

Snicker...I found out how to deal with DHs snoring waking me up...and him shaking me to wake me up when I snore. WHO SAID THAT?! HUH? I DON'T SNORE!!! ...Anyway...He had a cough and I moved to the guest bed. Cough gone. Back into our bed. Then I get a cough and I moved to the guest bed. He relapsed. So I stayed in the guest bed. I'm sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG!! I never in a million years dreamed I'd sleep in a separate bed from my DH. But........I'm not waking up tired any more..........

My DH snores so bad! I sleep on the couch for about 3 hours and then get up and go to bed when there's a lapse in snoring...then he starts snoring again after I get comfy. He has been in Boston all week for training at work. I have slept like a baby all week. I get up in the morning not tired and feel rested. I have more energy too! Tomorrow, he's suppose to come home. I guess all of my progress this week will go back to the way it was before he left. He has to do something about his snoring because I feel like it's affecting my health. He's always complaining about me being tired...he's the the cause of It!

Ladies, go to your doctor and ask him to have your DH's tested for a c-pap machine. You will both get a good nights sleep. Unless he sleeps face down.

Mine has been tested for sleep disorder, but the tech said it looked like he has sleep apnea...then the doctor says no. I think DH is lying because he doesn't want the cpap machine. That was a waste of a $500 deductible! There's a bite guard you can get through the dentist too...I'm going to check into that for him. He has to try something!

I swear by the recipe of 2 oz. white vodka, 16 oz. of distilled water--shake up in a spray bottle and iron those pesky wrinkles away!

I've been using Best Press on my DH's shirt collars & cuffs for about 6 or 7 years. Love it, and it doesn't 'flake'. I use the 'linen' scent. He likes it, too.

Thanks for the recipe, OUMOM

You're certainly welcome ladies.....I hope you all like it. And I hope you ladies get some rest from the snoring. My DH snors so bad, sometimes I swear he shakes the whole house and then says he doesn't snor......men......don't you just love them!!!! I think sometimes he wakes himself up snoring, but then denies it.

Friend just called to see if i knew of any place that has the Best Press on sale..saw this thread, and decided to bump the home made recipe to the top!

I make my own without the liquid starch. Want to sleep better? Keep a bottle by the bed
Don't like the sprays with scent...almost as bad as a smokers fabric.

OK, everyone. You all know I'm cheap, er, frugal!! Those of you who know me also know that we don't drink alcohol, so obviously, I have no vodka in my pantry!!!

So, can I buy just 2 oz of white vodka, KC1930? If so, where and btw, do I need to go to Krogers or Meijers in the middle of the night so no one will see me buying this???

What's a quilter to do???

pat

I love it and have been using it for a yr. now.
Thank you for the recipe I want to try it. I could save some money too.

Garden Pat you can purchase tiny one ounce bottle or maybe 1.5oz bottles at our liquor stores here in Canada. Not sure what is available state side. Now I could send you a couple IF it were legal.

lol Pat! ask a neighbor..! yes, any party store sells the little 1 or 2 ounce bottles! your so funny! just the vodka and the distilled water will work. i am trying to find mary ellens best press on sale for my friend.
maybe i should make her a homemade batch and put it in best press bottle!

Best Press is on sale at Hancocks 7/5 - 7/25 for $5.99 in lavendar, linen or unscented.
"Selection may vary by store" - but it is the large bottle.

Thanks Elle!

I know the ladies at my quilt guild swear by that stuff but I've never used it. Maybe I'll have to give it a try.

As for the snoring husbands...my daughter got me some of those little foamy ear plugs at xmas as a joke from WalMart. Well, I used them anyway and they work!! The pink ones are made especially for women. They are a little smaller than the regular ones. I don't go to bed without using them now. And my husband says he sleeps so much better now too because I'm not nudging him all night long. So it's a win/win situation!

I love the Best Press. No Hancock's near here. My DH got the C-Pap machine and sleeps like a baby now. He was BAD before; woke up 62 times per hour...THEY counted at the sleep clinic.

Thanks OUMom. Copied the "recipe!" and will use it as soon as I can get some of that Vodka.
nuquiltr

Buy a bottle of vodka and make homemade vanilla...just please vanilla bean in a bottle, add the vodka, and wait a month to use. Add more vodka after each use. I love it. I bake a lot and I think it is cheaper than vanilla in the store. I keep 2 bottles going at a time. I always add more vanilla than the recipe.