Flax Processing: From Seed to Yarn and Beyond
Workshop Fee: $280.00
Turning flax into a finished product is a process that has been developed over thousands of years. In this two-day workshop, the history of this plant and process will be discussed while we cover the entire process from seed to yarn, and a little beyond. Students will learn how to plant seeds, rhett stalks, and dress (break, scutch and hackle) flax. The first day will end on our spinning wheels and a discussion of blending linen with wool. Our Second day will focus on spinning techniques, linen yarn qualities, and how those qualities are best suited for finished projects. Students will dress a distaff, scour their yarns, and have an opportunity to weave their own lindsey woolsey cloth (linen warp with wool weft). We will end the day with a discussion on selecting knitting and crochet patterns best suited for linen.
Students should know how to spin a little. But no prior flax experience is necessary. Some equipment is very sharp. Students should be old enough to follow safety instructions without supervision. Processing flax can be dusty. Students with breathing problems should bring a good mask to wear.
Skills and Techniques:
- Planting seed and harvesting plants
- “Dressing Flax”; processing plants into line for spinning, (rhetting, breaking, scutching, and hackling)
- How to spin on a drop spindle and/or wheel (students do not have to do both)
- Gain knowledge on the history of flax and linen
- How to dress a distaff
- How to choose good line fibers to spin
- Blending techniques
- Finishing yarns
Materials Fee: $50 paid directly to the instructor. Fee covers flax to bring through the process, flax to spin during class, wool to blend during class. Flax seed to try growing at home, flax to process at home, flax to spin at home, and handouts.
Special Tools or Equipment: Working spinning wheel or drop spindle. The instructor has drop spindles for the entire class. SMF and instructor have a limited number of spinning wheels. If you need a spinning wheel, please email SMF at: marsha@sanbornmills.org after registering to make arrangements. If students have flax processing equipment, they may bring it to use. But we will have equipment for everyone to try using.
Workshop Policies: Please be sure to read our 2025 policies before you register for a workshop which can be found here Workshop Policies
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