Blog Post #1 - Fibers

Linen: A Historically Expensive Fabric

            Linen is one of the most established cellulosic fibers.  Linen is a natural fiber and is a cousin to cotton, wool, and silk. Natural fibers are biodegradable and acknowledged as feasible and environmentally safe choice, as long as no product that could potentially harm the environment is included in the manufacturing process.

            Linen, made from flax, hemp, jute, and ramie are taken out of the plant’s stem.  This procedure is known as retting, the scraps and unusable parts of the plant are rotted away and the stiff parallel fibers are extracted. Linen feels crisp, hard, and cool but the lack of resilience makes linen brittle. This can be an issue with upholstery because it is wrinkle prone and accessible to upholstery abrasion.  Linen is great for wall covering because the setbacks of linen will not be a problem.

            Linen dyes wonderfully in a dye bath.  On the other hand, when the fabric is printed the dye saturation is not easy to accomplish because of the density of this particular fiber.  Linen prints are typically designed to look “worn” or “washed” from the beginning. Linen yarns, are manufactured through several processes that can drastically change the appearances and characteristics. Naturally linen is a color called “gray “, which is a tan color. If the linen is partially bleached “boiled” linen it is a lighter pearly color. If the linen is “bleached” the color is a very crisp and clean white.   Linen can be labeled as several different types. Line- linen, has very long staple fibers that are combed and mercerized which creates an elaborate and durable yarn. Tow- linen is a yarn made up of a very short staple, this particular type is favorable to wall coverings but is often considered to look fuzzy and have low abrasion resistance.  Linens can also be wet spun which creates a smooth character while dry spun creates a soft yarn.

            Linen is used in many different categories from apparel, to interior design, and even the hardworking category of textile fibers. Being one of the most prevalent cellulosic fibers creates easy access to the fiber but the process itself is labor intensive due to the many categories of this natural fiber. Linen is a classic fabric that has been used globally for thousands of years. It is environmentally friendly which is often a selling point for customers in this time era. This fabric is luxurious and historically was used on wealthy people in society but now, linen can be used for an array of different categories which gives anyone open access to using this great fiber.