Making Linen Fabric
- 1). Prepare the flax after harvesting by rippling---a process in which a combing machine removes the seeds (flax seeds are turned into linseed oil)---and then "retting" the flax. Retting literally rots away the cellulose and pectin from the fiber through soaking the flax stalks. This is done by soaking flax bundles---called "beets"---in water; allowing the stalks to ret naturally by laying them on the ground and letting dew perform the task; or it can be done by chemical soaking. The entire retting process can take up to three weeks.
- 2). Squeeze excess water from the stalks and dry, either through natural ventilation---sun or air drying---or mechanical means (drying houses with fans).
- 3). Separate the fiber from the woody stalks by "scutching." Scutching (separating) is the breaking up of the stalks into pieces (shives) by beating or scraping and removing them from the fiber. This can be done by hand or mechanically.
- 4). Comb and straighten the fibers (this is called "hackling"). This process separates short fibers, or tow, from longer, more luxuriant fibers used in linen production.
- 5). Create spin-ready "roving" by passing the fibers through a spreading machine, which combines fibers of the same length in parallel slivers.
- 6). Draw the rovings into thread on a spinning frame, in which the threads are wound onto bobbins or spools. Multiple spools are filled simultaneously and the fibers are formed into a continuous ribbon and passed over fine pins in another combing process. Linen, while strong, is not elastic, so a wet spin is used to bind the fibers together in a fine weave.
- 7). Transfer the moist yarn to dryers to air dry the yarn by spinning it from spool to spool. Let the yarn dry completely. Spin the yarn onto spools of various sizes depending on the type of fabric manufacturing to take place.
- 8). Use a loom to weave the linen into a final fabric. Scottish and Irish weavers are famous for retaining a tradition of hand weaving on small-scale looms. Most production is done in factories on industrial-sized looms. The weave pattern, thread count and other characteristics of the fabric are determined by the end product use, for example, suits, towels, tablecloths or bed sheets.
- 9). Dye or bleach the fabric to obtain the desired color. Linen is prized for its natural property of accepting dyes.
