Linen Production

Linen is a bast fibre, obtained from the stems of the flax plant. The term bast means the fleshy part inside the bark. To obtain the fibres the stems are steeped in water for a long time to rot away the soft parts, in a process called retting. After retting the woody parts are separated and the linen fibres are collected and sent for spinning.

Flax plant is cultivated in very few areas worldwide. Also it requires longer processing time, therefore, linen is used less than cotton. The fibre is longer and finer than cotton, so the yarn produced is stronger and more lustrous. Like cotton, linen also absorbs moisture readily and, therefore, is comfortable. However, it does not absorb dyes very readily and therefore colours produced are not so bright.

Linen Fibre Production Process | What is production process of linen | How linen is made from flax | Linen Manufacturing Process

1. Harvesting : Flax plant takes 3-4 month to get mature for harvesting. Flax plant when reaches to height of 4 feets , is ready for fibre extraction. Stem as well as roots of flax plant also contains fibres, so the flax plant is pulled along with roots.
2. Retting : Flax plant is then moisturized to break down pectin. Pectin binds the fibres together in flax stem. So breaking down the pectin, will ease the process of fibre extraction. Flax harvest is spread over the field exposing it to water moisture and sun light for many weeks. It will change the color of flax stem.
3. Drying & Turning : Flax is dried under sun light to remove moisture content from the stem. The flax which is laid over the ground, turned up and down for even sun drying. When flax is dried, it is packed in the form of bales for transportation.
4. Scutching & Hackling : It is the mechanical process in which fibres are extracted from flax stem. The raw fibres taken our from the stem are combed many times to give them proper fine fibre shape for spinning process. This
5. Spinning : After proper combing of flax fibres, it is ready for spinning process. The fines yarns are spun from moist flax fibres and it gives the shiny appearance to linen yarn. Shorter fibres are spun dry or half wet which gives it more structured and coarse appearance.