Linen – Production Methods And History
Linen – Production Methods And History
Linen Production occurs in nearly all regions of the world. Linen is made from the fibers of the Flax plant. Flax has been cultivated in almost every region around the world since known Archaeological history. There is deep recorded history that Flax has been used to produce Linen yarns and fabrics going back over 6,000 years.
Linen yarns are made from the fibers encased in the stalks of the Flax plant. This is the modern day sequence of linen production from start to finish which is accomplished primarily with modern machinery:
- Seeds are planted in late spring
- The plants reach full maturity (+/- 3′ tall) in about 90 days
- Plants typically require zero pesticides and fertilizer throughout the growing season
- The plants are cut or pulled from the ground
- Once cut, the stalks are soaked in water in a process called “retting” which softens the stalks in preparation for the process of removing them to expose the fibers
- The waste from the process to remove the fibers from the stalks are used to manufacture animal bedding and other products
- Stalks are dried and then gathered into bales for transport to the next step of processing
- The fibers are lengthened and stripped of stalk debris though a process of “combing”
- Yarns are spun from the fibers into continuous lengths suitable for weaving
- Some yarns are dyed with natural dyes to produced color patterns in the weaving process
- Fabric is woven from the natural yarn