Flax to linen
Saturday 5 July 2025
Sunday 6 July 2025
Learn how our ancestors processed the flax plant into linen fabric. For millennia this vital plant clothed us and became our second skin; come and be a traditional ‘scutcher’ or ‘breaker’ for the day and change this coarse fibre into a piece of simple twine. Using hand tools learn the art of breaking, scutching and hackling flax, dressing a distaff with long fibres. You will have an introduction in spinning flax on a simple spindle whorl and learn a simple weave, but most importantly, discover what to do with your leftover “tow”!
10 am start
History of flax growing based at Tindall’s Cottage
Growing and retting a crop with the regional differences
Coffee Break
Processing flax by hand outside with traditional tools.
Breaking, scutching, hackling working in pairs to produce ‘linen line’
Lunch break
Preparing fibres for spinning with drop spindles. How to dress a distaff.
Hackling ‘Tow’ and how to use the waste product from the process.
Afternoon Break
Making a sample twine to take away with you
Ticket options
Saturday 5 July 2025
Sunday 6 July 2025
Learn how our ancestors processed the flax plant into linen fabric. For millennia this vital plant clothed us and became our second skin; come and be a traditional ‘scutcher’ or ‘breaker’ for the day and change this coarse fibre into a piece of simple twine. Using hand tools learn the art of breaking, scutching and hackling flax, dressing a distaff with long fibres. You will have an introduction in spinning flax on a simple spindle whorl and learn a simple weave, but most importantly, discover what to do with your leftover “tow”!
10 am start
History of flax growing based at Tindall’s Cottage
Growing and retting a crop with the regional differences
Coffee Break
Processing flax by hand outside with traditional tools.
Breaking, scutching, hackling working in pairs to produce ‘linen line’
Lunch break
Preparing fibres for spinning with drop spindles. How to dress a distaff.
Hackling ‘Tow’ and how to use the waste product from the process.
Afternoon Break
Making a sample twine to take away with you
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