Linen: Encyclopedia II - Linen - Flax fiber

Linen - Flax fiber

Linen is descriptive of yarns spun entirely from flax fibers, or fabrics woven from linen yarns. It is strong, durable, and resists rotting in damp climates. It is one of the few textiles that has a greater breaking strength wet than dry. It has a long "staple" (individual strand length) relative to cotton and other natural fibers.

The fiber in its un-spun state is called flax. After it is spun into yarn it becomes linen.

Linen - Measure

The standard measure of bulk linen yarn is the lea. This is a specific length, or indirect grist system, i.e. the number of length units per unit mass. A yarn having a size of 1 lea will give 300 yards per pound. The fine yarns used in handkerchiefs, etc. might be 60 lea, and give 60x300 = 18000 yards per pound. The symbol is NeL.

More commonly used in continental Europe is the Metric system, Nm. This is the number of 1000m lengths per kilogram.

In China they often tend to use the English Cotton system, NeC. This is the number of 840 yard lengths in a pound.

Linen - Production history

Up until the 1950s or so the finest linen yarn was made in Scotland, Ireland (Irish linen), and Belgium. The climates of these locations were ideal for natural processing methods called "retting".In Ireland and Scotland the retting took place in retting dams and rivers, and could lead to pollution. In continental Europe where temperatures are higher, dew retting in the fields could take place, this was favoured from an environmental viewpoint.

As years went by many of the finest factories in those areas closed, and most linen is currently made in China.

The decrease in use of linen may be attributed to the increasing quality of synthetic fibers, and a decreasing appreciation of buyers for very high quality yarn and fabric that wrinkles easily and requires high-temperature ironing while damp. Very little top-quality linen is produced now, and most is used in low volume applications like hand weaving and as an art material.

Linen - Uses

Linen will withstand washing in hot water and scrubbing, and can be bleached by spreading it in the sun to dry. These properties led to its use from the early Middle Ages for underwear, shirts, chemises, and other clothing worn next to the body (collectively called "body linen"), and also for sheets and pillowcases, napkins, and tablecloths. Although these are now often made of cotton or synthetic fibers, they are still called "linens," "bed linens," and "table linens."

Linen is also used for cloth, canvases, sails, tents, and even for books (the only surviving example of which is the Liber Linteus). Due to its strength, in the Middle Ages linen was used for shields and gambeson. Also because of it's strength when wet, Irish Linen is the best wrap of pool/billiard cues, due to its absorption of sweat from hands.

Contrary to popular belief, linen was probably never used as material for the Hoplite cuirass because of its price. Hoplite cuirass was made of leather.

Linen - Quality

Linen is available in different qualities varying from almost silk-like to sack-linen. Linen is usually white to ivory, may be washed at 95°C, and should be ironed when damp. The natural color of unbleached linen is ecru.

A characteristic often associated with linen yarn is the presence of "slubs", or small knots that occur randomly along its length. However, these are actually defects associated with low quality. The finest linen has a very consistent diameter with no slubs.

When being washed for the first time, linen shrinks significantly.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Flax fiber", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki