How to harden fabric without using comercial products? Answered

How hard do you want it? You could soak it in PVA glue or wallpaper adhesive, or even the same resins they use to make fibreglass.

Besides starch, there's sugar.

We used to harden crocheted items in crafts using that. We'd boil a pot of water and keep stirring white sugar into it until it wouldn't disolve anymore. Then we'd start dunking our crocheted parts into it, painting it on, etc..

More details can be found here:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Crochet-3235/thread-stiff.htm

Good old-fashioned starch?

L