Here are resources online concerning fiber flax and linen. We are always adding to this so if you have a suggestion, please contact us.
General
- Flax – Wikipedia page
- Linum Usitatissimum – Wikimedia Commons (scientific and historical images)
- Linum usitatissimum L. – Overview from the Center for New Crops & Plant Products, at Purdue University
- Flax Linens Industry Directory – Interactive Google Map identifying flax and linen producers around the world
- How linen is made – Nice and concise overview
- Chico Flax – A group organizing for flax & linen production in Northern California.
Growers & Suppliers
- Flax 4 Sale (PA) – Flax stricks, flax seeds, retted and unretted flax straw, tow, and more
- Taproot Fibre Lab (Nova Scotia) – Devoted to creating long line flax fibre processing equipment that can generate localized economic growth in rural communities
- The Woolery (KY) – Flax strick, flax tow, flax sliver, hemp, ramie, top (China Grass) and more
- Woolgatherers (WI) – Flax seed and processing tools, along with handlooms, spinning wheels, yarn, fibers, weaving tools, and more
- Chico Flax – Promoting a sustainable flax-to-
fabric textile industry in the Northern Sacramento Valley (CA). Flax seed for sale. - Black Cat Farmstead – Check out their Etsy site for their flax roving, yarn, and stricks.
Articles
- Herb To Know: Flax – Rita Buchanan on how to grow and process flax (1995)
- Organizer Of Flax And Linen Symposium Aspires To Cultivate Her Own Clothes – NEPR interview with New England Flax & Linen member Michelle Parrish (2016)
- These Vintage Threads Are 30,000 Years Old – NPR piece on an archaeological find in Georgia of 30,000 year old flax fibers (2009)
Videos
- At the Hermitage is the YouTube channel for the Zinzendorf Brothers. They have many many videos showing how to grow and process flax.
- British Pathé has a number documentaries on flax and linen from British Instructional Films (note: documentaries are silent).
- Flax Processing / Flax Spinning – Interpreters at the Frontier Culture Museum demonstrate how to process and spin flax
- Linen Production Process – from Libeco Lagae (Belgian Linen company)