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Adidas Jeremy Scott Wings Flax and Linen in the Co |
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Uses of Linen in Colonial America
After rippling, the stalks were wet down to rot the leaves and soften the stalks. Afterwards, the flax stalks were cleaned, dried, and tied into bundles. A Flax-brake was used to break the stalks and separate the fibers – a task that required great strength. After being broken, it was scutched or swingled, a process that removed bark. This, too, was very hard work. A second swingling was required, and the results were often pounded for greater softness.
When ripe, the plants were pulled from the ground and allowed to dry in the sun for a few days. It was turned and spread several times, and then rippled or combed with a heavy wire comb to remove the seed pods,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], which would be kept for planting the following year.
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Early settlers from England,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Scotland, and Ireland brought flax seeds and their linen-making skills with them, and thus it was produced on small farms all through the colonies. Additional settlers, including French Huguenots, also brought expertise in growing and processing flax.
Finally the flax would be hackled, or drawn through hackles (combs), and thus converted into tow (low quality fiber) or, after much pulling and combing, into fine flax. After all this work, the flax could be spun into thread or yarn, and then used for knitting or weaving into fabric.
Spinning was primarily a task for women, often the unmarried young women and girls in their teens. Younger women became so closely tied to this task that the term spinster, even though it actually refers to the job of spinning, eventually came to mean an unmarried woman. For more about spinning in Colonial days, see Teen Girls' Spinning Contributed to Colonial Household Success.
Growing and preparing flax to be spun was an arduous task that often involved men, women, and children on the farm. Since young flax is a tender plant, weeding had to be done carefully, often by children working barefoot to avoid damaging the plants.
Linen was used not only for clothing, but bedding, sails for ships and boats, household and business needs such as sacking and rope. It was the most commonly used material for all these purposes, rivaled only by wool, which was preferable for heavy clothing, but not suitable for lighter purposes.
As the population grew, people began to specialize, some setting up weaving shops using yarn spun by a number of households. A farmer might plant a large crop of flax,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and process it for use by others, thus providing a monetary income instead of fabric for only one family.
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Spinning Flax for Yarn or Thread
Growing and Preparing Flax
Flax was an essential crop for colonists in that it added greatly to their prosperity and their economic independence, since it provided the means for a family to clothe itself without expensive imports. Linen, which is made from flax, and wool were the two staple fibers used during this time. These two fibers could be produced in the northern area of the continent, unlike heat-loving and labor-intensive cotton.
Spinning flax required great dexterity, as the spinner had to twist the flax as it was wound onto bobbins. The thread was then wound off into “knots” or “lays” of about 40 threads; twenty lays became a skein or slipping. Spinning two skeins of thread could easily take an entire day. The skeins were then usually bleached by being soaked in water,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], washed, and sometimes treated with ashes and hot water, slaked lime, or buttermilk.
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