Linen is cloth made from the fibers of flax, Linum usitatissimum, a slender plant whose Latin name means "most useful." The fibers lie in the stalk, between its outer skin and its woody core. Cotton-linen is a fabric that mixes these fibers with cotton.
From flax stalk to cloth
Flax grown for fiber is pulled up by the roots or cut close to the ground, which keeps the fibers long. The stalks are then retted. They are soaked in water or spread out on a field, where bacteria and moisture rot away the gummy tissue that binds the fibers to the stem. Field retting takes two to three weeks.
Once the stalks are dry, they are broken, and scutching beats or scrapes away the broken woody bits. Hackling then combs the fibers through finer and finer metal teeth to clean and straighten them. The long fibers are spun into yarn and woven into cloth.
Why linen feels cool, creases and softens
Linen absorbs moisture and gives it off quickly, and it conducts heat well, so linen clothes feel cool to wear. It is stronger than cotton and dries faster. The University of Georgia Extension rates it the best wicking of the natural fibers.
The same fiber has very little stretch. A fold does not spring back, so linen wrinkles easily. Sharp creases pressed into the same place again and again can wear through the threads, often at collars and hems. Linen also grows softer the more it is washed.
What a cotton-linen blend is
In a blended yarn, cotton and flax are mixed before spinning. In a union fabric, the lengthwise threads are one fiber and the crosswise threads are the other. Textile researchers note that flax is stronger than cotton but less elastic and more likely to wrinkle, which is one reason the two are blended. Cotton fibers stretch about three times as far as flax before they break. Cotton creases too, so a blend still wrinkles.
Linen in ancient Egypt
Egyptians grew flax in fields along the Nile and pulled it up by hand. The finest "royal linen" came from young plants pulled before they set seed. The Tarkhan dress, a linen garment excavated in a cemetery south of Cairo in 1913, was dated by the University of Oxford to between 3482 and 3102 BCE. It is among the oldest woven garments known.
White linen was everyday dress in Egypt, and linen also wrapped the dead. Plutarch wrote that the priests of Isis wore linen because of its purity.
Caring for linen
Read the care label first, especially on a blend. Care guides advise washing in cool or lukewarm water on a gentle cycle, because high heat can shrink linen. Line dry it, or tumble dry on low and take it out while it is still damp, since over-drying leaves linen stiff. Iron while the fabric is damp, when creases come out most easily, and avoid pressing sharp creases into it.
Linen Clothing at Buddha.store
Our clothing collection includes linen and cotton-linen pieces such as these:
