Seed to Shirt
You might be thinking, isn't flax food? Or maybe you're remembering that linseed oil is for wood finishing, waterproofing, even kitchen floors and oil paintings. If so, you are entirely correct!
This beautiful, delicate, yet wildly useful plant has a 30,000+ year long history and is used in everything from your great grandma's finest nightgown to NASA test experiments. Flax processed into linen for cordage and clothing can last 100 or more years with proper care, making for heirloom quality shirts, napkins, aprons.. and so much more. The chances are high, with so many different cultures utilizing Flax for food and fibre, that your not-too-distant ancestors had a direct relationship with this once thriving industry in some capacity. Between the late 1700s and the mid 1900s, in some countries, governments would fund homesteading families to grow, spin, and weave linen into flax in an attempt to keep up with demand. The collaborative nature of flax related employment and resulting textile arts, in certain areas, even helped bridge racial divides. |
With our economy and resources currently operating on a global scale, regaining the skills and sovereignty of small communities once again becoming self reliant for our textile needs, is a wise choice that quietly stands apart from consumer driven, harmful, fast fashion practices. These are skills that humanity can't afford to forget.
Though a labour intensive process, turning seeds into a shirt (or tea towel!) feels good to the soul. Many hands, of course, make for lighter work while reconnecting us with the natural world and fostering real, live, human heart-to-heart connections.
Though a labour intensive process, turning seeds into a shirt (or tea towel!) feels good to the soul. Many hands, of course, make for lighter work while reconnecting us with the natural world and fostering real, live, human heart-to-heart connections.
But how?
What is the timeline?
For context, a 2 acre plot grown in favourable weather conditions, historically provides enough fabric to clothe a family of 4, complete with household linens and a little bit extra to sell on the side.
If done well, a 5' X 10' bed could provide enough fibre for a pair of tea towels.
Our crop size in 2024 is a little over 600 square feet combining Humble Ground's generously donated farm land and community tended pots and mirco plots throughout the qathet region. Each year, as the qathet Flax to Linen Community expands, resources are acquired, and various sized gifts of growing space is provided ~ volunteering members will do our best to casually, yet consistently, process the resulting fibre at a pace that is sustainable for each body.
Our focus is on a communal learning experience rather than obtaining an end product by a particular date. This allows us certain freedoms in terms of production scale, plot local, equipment needs, and number of helping hands. At some point a few years from now, we will have created a shirt together. Along the way, community members will learn the skills needed through hands-on doing and have samples of their own of homespun linen line.
If done well, a 5' X 10' bed could provide enough fibre for a pair of tea towels.
Our crop size in 2024 is a little over 600 square feet combining Humble Ground's generously donated farm land and community tended pots and mirco plots throughout the qathet region. Each year, as the qathet Flax to Linen Community expands, resources are acquired, and various sized gifts of growing space is provided ~ volunteering members will do our best to casually, yet consistently, process the resulting fibre at a pace that is sustainable for each body.
Our focus is on a communal learning experience rather than obtaining an end product by a particular date. This allows us certain freedoms in terms of production scale, plot local, equipment needs, and number of helping hands. At some point a few years from now, we will have created a shirt together. Along the way, community members will learn the skills needed through hands-on doing and have samples of their own of homespun linen line.