1 / 18

Linen: Seed to Shirt

Linen: Seed to Shirt. Presented by: Lady Margareta Gijsberts greetofphoenixglade@gmail.com. at Gatalop, 2007. Bibliography. Elizabeth Barber, Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years , 1994. Patricia Baines, Linen: Handspinning and Weaving , 1989 (OOP).

johnsonnorman
Télécharger la présentation

Linen: Seed to Shirt

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Linen: Seed to Shirt Presented by: Lady Margareta Gijsberts greetofphoenixglade@gmail.com at Gatalop, 2007

  2. Bibliography • Elizabeth Barber, Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years, 1994. • Patricia Baines, Linen: Handspinning and Weaving, 1989 (OOP). • Patricia Baines, Flax and Linen, 1985. • Bette Hochberg, Spin, Span, Spun: Fact and Folklore for Spinners and Weavers,1979. • Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs & Steel, 1998. • Arnold Pacey, Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History. • Frances Pritchard, Clothing Culture: Dress in Egypt in the First Millenium AD, 2006.

  3. Why linen? Linen Lingerie Linseed Linseed Oil Linoleum • Linen is our oldest clothing fiber • It’s 20% stronger when wet, doesn’t felt. • Conducts heat easily, dries quickly. • Bleaches easily, sheds soil easily • Doesn’t require sheep

  4. Seed • Linen is a plant fiber = CELLULOSE (wool and silk are PROTEIN) • Linum Usatatissimum • Renewable: save seeds and replant • Seeds are edible and very nutritious • Flaxseed oil • Ground flaxmeal • Linseed oil base for paints and wood finishes

  5. Growing Flax • In warm climates like Meridies, grown in WINTER. Egyptians planted in November.(2) Since hardy in cold, widespread throughout Europe. • Heavily manured field, blue flowers, needs periodic support for long stems

  6. Harvesting Flax • Pulled, not cut from field, to prevent exposing fiber to next steps of process • The longer left in the field, the coarser it will be – ‘green flax’ creates fine and supple linen, but no chance to save seed Pulling flax in Flanders

  7. Processing Flax • Dry the stems, then ‘ret’ or ROT the outer cellulose from around the inner stem fibers. • Stem fibers are called ‘bast’ fibers • Other bast fibers are nettles, hemp, ramie, which produce linen-like fabric when treated in the same way

  8. Retting Flax • Wet-retting or Dew-retting • Wet-retting: Submerge stems in slow-moving water – STINKS • Dew-retting: Thin layer of dried stems on lawn, requires turning – reputed to produce a more ‘silvery’ strick.

  9. Breaking Flax • Necessary to break off the outer cellulose and inner core.

  10. Scutching and Hackling • Tow vs line flax

  11. Spinning thread • Egyptian spinning – Pre-draft a ribbon of flax • Twist the fibers together briefly every 3” • Wind that ribbon into a ball • Submerge it in a pot of water • Spin with a top-whorl distaff • If you’re really clever, like an Egyptian – do TWO. • Let’s try this.

  12. Spinning with a distaff

  13. Distaff, cont. • Distaff side = women’s side of the family, since a woman had to be spinning ALL THE TIME to meet needs of her family. • Symbol of courtship and sex • Handy weapon

  14. Spinning with a wheel • Spinning wheels imported from East? • Earliest images(6): • Baghdad (1237) • China (1270) • Europe (1280) • Flax wheels have a smaller diameter than wool wheels, since twist ratio need not be as high due to fiber length

  15. Spinning a yarn • Spinning in folklore • ‘Straw into gold’ from Rumpelstiltskin • Three fates: Clotho, Lachesis, Atrophos • Sleeping Beauty – how old is this tale? • Three ugly sisters • Many others (Seven swan brothers, Hungarian twin sisters, etc)

  16. Weave into cloth • Humidity, sizing • Fabric bleachable (2) • Dye process: triple mordant = alum/tannic acid/alum • Weaves: plain, damask, diaper, Swedish Lace

  17. Shirt • Sometimes woven into shape (7) • Creases under nail • Dampen sewing thread • Laundry – a mangle or smoothing board for calendering • Use your linen! ‘Good linen’ saved for a someday that never comes, turns brown and brittle.

  18. Actual Objects • Flaxseed • Hackled flax • Linen handkerchief • Linen of different weights • Bleached/unbleached linen • Damask napkin • Flax wheel

More Related