Thursday, January 24, 2019

Victoria Flax to Linen

Deep Cove Weavers & Spinners were pleased to have members of the Victoria Flax to Linen group give us a presentation on the history and process of using Flax to create cloth.
Brenda Nicholson and Raven Ranson brought tools of the trade and led us through the process of extracting the fibres from the flax plant and preparing them for spinning.  Once spun the fibre is referred to as linen and weaves into a light weight, cool fabric, that is very durable.  Linen is one of the oldest fabrics to be found in historical archives.
The Victoria Flax to Linen society was formed with a mind to share and preserve the traditional knowledge of growing flax, extracting the fibres and preparing them for spinning.




Tool to remove the seeds & corse bits from the plant
Tool to break up the flax into usable fibre

Hackler - tow linen left behind

Flax seeds and tow linen

Brenda and Raven
tow linen is made from bits left behind during the process
 the fine linen fibres for are called stricks