How to Make Cloth Out of Flax
Flax is a versatile and useful plant that can be prepared and woven into a strong and viable cloth. Although the process for turning flax leaves into flax cloth is a complicated and challenging endeavor, it can be accomplished. The process can be broken down into three basic steps: preparing the flax, spinning the flax and weaving the flax. Here is a simplified guide to help you make cloth out of flax.
Things You'll Need
- Flax leaves
- Butter knife
- Spinning wheel
- Weaving loom
- Ice pop stick
- Scissors
Instructions
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Prepare the flax. Tear the flax leaves into long, thin strips. Using a butter knife, tightly pull it along the flax leaves as you would to curl a birthday ribbon. This will soften the fibers. Once the leaves are softened, carefully, yet firmly, pull down on the leave using your fingernails to pull off the tough exterior part of the leaves. What is left behind is the fiber strands that can be spun into threads.
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Spin the flax. If you have no experience spinning fibers on a spinning wheel, see Resources for a link to basic spinning techniques. If you are familiar with spinning fibers, begin to spin the flax as you would wool, except twist the flax fibers as you work to twist the fibers together. This will allow your threads to be strongly intertwined, and better able to hold up during the weaving process.
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Weave the flax. Using a simple loom, weave the flax strings in and out of the loom, until the entire loom is full. Insert a ice pop stick in between the flax strings, and push all of the strings down to one end. Place a new flax string in between the woven strings, pushing it down to the end with the ice pop stick. Repeat this process until you have filled the entire loom with a solid sheet of flax cloth. Using scissors, carefully cut the ends of the flax strings off of the loom, and tie the to the loose ends that were threaded through the loom.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Images Courtesy of Fotosearch
