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Flax, from Seed to Linen Yarn
Riitta Sinkkonen Davies, Pembrokeshire Guild
Some of my earliest memories are of a
field of lovely blue flowers swaying in the
breeze and of my maternal grandmother
spinning in her kitchen in the evening. I
spent a lot of time with my Finnish
grandparents as a young child; both of my
parents were working and childcare was
difficult to find. I still have several kilos of
flax grown by my grandparents. It is in
perfect condition although it is over 50
years old.
I have grown a small amount of fibre
flax (Linum usitatissimum) in my garden
in Wales every summer for 25 years. The
size of my plot has varied from 12 square
metres to just one. I rarely sow my flax
before April and have sometimes left it as
late as early May, depending on the
weather and how busy I am. I use about
15 grams of seed per square metre to
obtain slender stems and fine fibre. I
broadcast the seed evenly over my plot,
raking it in lightly and covering with a net
Flax flowers
Photo: Riitta Sinkkonen Davies
to prevent birds from eating it. My flax
follows a crop like potatoes which were
grown in well manured soil. I add some
wood ash before sowing the flax. My soil
is fairly heavy clay, but I am lucky to have
a south facing garden with plenty of sun.
The seedlings emerge in about a week.
When the seedlings are still small it is
good to keep the plot weed-free and
watered during dry weather. When the
plants are growing well there isn’t much
to do before harvesting. The flowers will
start appearing about 60 days after
planting.
Flax will be ready for harvesting in
about 100 days from sowing, when the
lower half of the stems will be turning
yellow and the leaves falling off. There can
still be some flowers on the plants and the
seeds will not yet be ripe. The longer the
plants are left to grow the coarser the
fibres become. Flax is a bast fibre with
bundles of fibres running the whole
length of the stem between a woody core
and outer bark. The plants should be
pulled rather than cut to obtain the
maximum length of fibre. The stems are
tied into bundles and left to dry in the
sun. I place them against a bench or sawhorse, turning them around occasionally.
Fully dried plants are called flax straw and
at that stage are ready for processing.
Pulling flax
Flax stooks drying
Photo: Colin Davies
Photo: Riitta Sinkkonen Davies
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Water retting
Dew retting
Photo: Riitta Sinkkonen Davies
Photo: Riitta Sinkkonen Davies
Breaking: flax straw is beaten
between top and base, breaking the
woody core and leaving the fibres
Scutching: fibres are pulled
through blades on base and lid
Hackling: showing coarser and
finer hackles
Photo: Colin Davies
Photo: Colin Davies
Photo: Colin Davies
The first process is rippling, the removal
of seed heads. This is usually done by
pulling the stems through a coarse comb.
However, I just place a bundle of straw in
a shallow tray and press the dry seed bolls
with my feet so that they open and any
ripe seeds fall off, making them easy to
collect. I store the straw in a shed through
winter and carry on with the processing
during the following spring and summer,
when weather conditions are less
unpredictable.
The second process is retting. This
loosens the fibre bundles from the stem’s
inner core and outer epidermis. Retting
can be done by spreading the stems
loosely on a lawn; they will be kept damp
by dew and rain (dew-retting). They will
have to be turned over every few days in
order to obtain an even ret. Dew-retting
can take anything between 4 and 6 weeks.
Another method is to keep the stems
submerged in water (water-retting). I ret
my flax mainly in a water tank. As soon as
the water starts to smell foul, it needs to
be changed every day. This prevents the
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plants getting slimy and smelly by the
time retting is finished. Water-retting is
much faster than dew-retting. Depending
on the temperature of the water, retting
can take anything between 6 and 10 days.
Whichever way the flax is retted, it is
important to test it regularly to avoid
over-retting. Under-retted flax can always
be processed again, but over-retted flax is
spoilt. To test if retting is complete, bend
a few stems and see if the fibres come
loose easily from the core.
By growing and processing your own
flax you can obtain many different shades
of natural colour depending on soil and
weather conditions during growing and
whether it is dew- or water-retted. Dewretting gives greyish colours, whereas
water-retting gives pale golden fibres. I find
it fascinating that every year’s yield of
fibres differs both in colour and quality.
After retting, the stems need to dry
properly before the next stage, which is
breaking. During breaking the well-retted
and dry inner core, or boon, is broken into
pieces and falls off, leaving the long fibres
Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers 242, Summer 2012
intact. Breaking is a messy job and is best
done outside. Remaining pieces of boon
and any shorter and tangled fibres are
removed in a scutching process. My
husband has made tools for both breaking
and scutching; they are similar to the ones
my grandmother used, but smaller and
without legs for easier storage. I can clamp
them to a garden table when needed.
The final stage before spinning is
hackling. Hackles are several parallel rows
of metal pins set in wood. By gripping the
flax firmly at one end it is pulled through
the pins starting with the tips and
progressing further into the bundle with
each draw. This is then repeated with the
other end. The sharp pins divide the
bundles of flax into individual fibres and
separate the long ‘line’ fibres from short
‘tow’ fibres. I use two hackles, first a
coarser one with fewer pins and then
finish with a finer one. The resulting flax
‘strick’ is shiny and all the fibres lie
parallel to each other. The tangled tow
fibres left in the hackles are not wasted,
but are also collected for spinning.
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My flax from different years. Left: water
retted, Right: dew retted. Far right: two
stricks of my grandmother’s flax
Dressing a distaff my grandmother’s way
Photo: Colin Davies
Photo: Riitta Sinkkonen Davies
Spinning line from distaff
Photo: Colin Davies
To be able to spin the long line fibres they
have to be arranged carefully. This is
usually done with a distaff. The shape and
size of traditional distaffs varied
enormously, as did the way they were
dressed. Every country and region had
their own variation. I use my
grandmother’s method to dress my
distaff. I place a small finger of fibres in a
U-shape on a table and pull back
alternately from both ends with my left
hand while easing some fibres from the
fold with my right hand. When I have
filled the whole length of the table I place
my distaff on the fibres and roll them
around it. I will repeat the spreading and
rolling-on as many times as needed to use
all the fibres. It is important that the
fibres are well separated from each other.
The more carefully this is done the easier
it is to control the amount of fibres that
are drafted during spinning. Distaffs can
be made by rolling a piece of card into a
cone which can be placed on top of a
broom handle. This can be tied to a table
or chair leg. The distaff is usually
Drafting new fibres from
distaff with twist
Spinning tow from
tow fork
Photo: Colin Davies
Photo: Colin Davies
positioned on the spinner’s left side. It is
important to have the distaff at the
correct height to make spinning
comfortable.
It is often said that linen should be
S-spun because flax fibres tend to twist
naturally that way. However, my
grandmother as well as all the other
people I knew in Finland always spun
with Z-twist. I have been involved in
recreating many historic fabrics and
always had to use Z-twist yarn. For the
reconstruction of Shakespeare’s bedspread
I spun 3.6 kilos of fine linen yarn which
according to the original had to be Zspun. All commercially spun linen yarns
are Z-spun. I think it is fine to spin
whichever way you feel more comfortable
with. I still spin mine with a Z-twist.
To create a smooth even yarn, line flax
needs to be spun wet. Moisture helps to
fix all the fibre ends into the yarn. My
grandmother, like most of her
contemporaries, used saliva by spitting on
her fingers while spinning. These days it is
considered unhygienic so most people use
water. You can also make a flax-seed
solution by boiling a small amount of
seed in water. I use a sponge in a small
bowl on a towel on my lap. It can also be
hung from the spinning wheel or kept on
a chair nearby so that it is easy to reach.
Line flax is best spun fine. A wheel with a
high ratio works best, but most wheels can
be used. I am lucky to have my
grandmother’s spinning wheel which is a
joy to use for flax spinning. To start
spinning I pull some fibres from the distaff
with my left hand, twisting them around a
long leader with moistened right hand
fingers, and start treadling.
My left hand draws down the fibres and the
moistened fingers of my right hand
smooth the yarn by lightly rolling it as the
twist is forming. When I have smoothed
the yarn all the way back to the distaff I will
allow a small amount of twist through the
fingers of my left hand to catch a few new
fibres from the distaff for my next draw. It
is important to learn to feel how much
twist has built in the yarn so that you know
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Below: Boiling yarns, long ties
outside the pot help to
prevent yarns getting too
tangled
Photo: Riitta Sinkkonen Davies
Right: tied together are skeins of
same line yarn before and after
boiling, Far right: boiled tow yarns
Photo: Riitta Sinkkonen Davies
when the next draw down can take place.
You have to be careful not to let too much
twist into the fibres on the distaff or you
will get too many new fibres and very thick
yarn. Too little, and the fibres can become
detached from the distaff. It is important
to move the yarn from hook to hook
regularly to avoid losing the end if the yarn
breaks. When you master the technique
you can create a lovely rhythm with the left
hand controlling the twist and drawing
fibres down, the right hand smoothing the
yarn from orifice back to the distaff. I think
linen yarn for weaving is most beautiful as
singles. I never ply my linen yarns.
Tow can be spun by placing it on a
special tow fork from which the fibres can
be drawn down in a similar way to
spinning line from the distaff. Tow can also
be carded and spun much like any other
fibre. After carding I loosen it from the
carder and roll it sideways rather than
making a normal rolag; this way more of
the fibres are aligned parallel. Line fibres
lend themselves to spinning a fine yarn
whereas tow can be spun thicker. It can be
spun wet or dry. I usually spin thicker tow
yarns dry, but thinner ones wet. I can’t,
however, use my grandmother’s wheel to
spin thick because it has too high a ratio,
giving the tow too much twist. Short
combed fibres in the form of sliver are also
available, but I don’t find them as
interesting to spin. All the towels and
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everyday table linens in my grandparents’
house were woven with tow yarns. Line was
often sold as yarn or woven fabric. Tow is
used extensively for decorative weaving in
Finland. It is also fun to knit with, on its
own or blended with other fibres.
Linen yarn will feel stiff and hard when
it comes off the bobbin. Scouring will
soften, clean and lighten the colour of the
yarn. I boil it with 25-50% (of yarn weight)
of both soap and washing soda (more for
dew-retted than water-retted fibre) letting
it simmer at least an hour. Never leave the
skeins in the dirty water to cool and rinse
them well until the water is clear. To lighten
the yarn further, repeat the boiling, but
reduce the quantity of soap and soda.
For the best result, re-skein the still-wet
yarn. Run it through a damp sponge or just
roll it gently between your fingers while
winding the skein, smoothing all loose
fibre ends back into the yarn. Hang the
new skein to see which way it wants to
turn, then twist it in the opposite direction,
fold and hang it to dry from both ends
without a weight. When dry, open up the
skein and it should hang straight. To
further soften the yarn, work the skein up
and down between your hands, a section at
a time.
It is interesting, as well as confusing,
how somewhere between the distaff and
orifice the fibre as it is spun changes from
flax to linen.
Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers 242, Summer 2012
Riitta learned to spin and weave with her
grandmother in Finland where she later studied
for a degree in woven textiles. She has lived in
Pembrokeshire for 37 years. She runs courses in
her workshop as well as other venues. Riitta can
be contacted at [email protected]
http://riitta.webeden.co.uk
Further reading:
Linda Heinrich (1992) The Magic of Linen,
Flax seed to woven cloth, Canada: Orca Book
Publishers
Patricia Baines (1989) Linen, Hand spinning
and weaving, London: Batsford Books
Kati Reeder Meek (2000) Reflections from a
Flaxen past, For love of Lithuanian weaving,
Alpena, Michigan: Penannular Press
International
Flax seed can be bought from wildfibres.co.uk
and flaxland.co.uk
Tow and stricks from Riitta Sinkkonen Davies,
[email protected]
Flax stricks from Moira Diane Wood,
[email protected]
Readers interested in flax cultivation and
processing on an industrial scale may wish to
read Journal 227, September 2008, Straw into
Gold – the Processing of Flax, Moira Diane
Wood.
For a review of The Big Book of Flax please see
page 40 and of The Magic of Linen, Flax seed
to woven cloth (recently republished as Linen
from Flax Seed to Woven Cloth; Schiffer) please
see Journal 240.