Linen

“ Indoors, the blur of the flying shuttle hums a minor accompaniment to the song of the bees busily planing from flower to flower, gathering up the nectar, that, as honey, is later to come to home tables. Then some morning the bolt of linen is finished, the linen that will, with ordinary care, long outlive the women whose industry has brought it into being. ”

“ Open the linen-cupboard in any farm kitchen, and you will be amazed at the wealth of its heaps of rustic creamy white.
Our weavers do not weave, our women do not spin, only hemp-thread and linen. Every man on the countryside, of the peasant class, is clad in the stout rase (thick rough cloth) , or frieze, which his brown flocks wore first of all, his own hands sheared, his wife’s clever fingers spun, and which was woven on the village loom. ”

“ So the goddess sat in the home of the hunter and his wife and taught them how to spin flax and weave linen. When the wife saw the piece of linen on the grass, growing whiter and whiter the longer the sun shone upon it, she said to her husband, "Indeed, my hunter, the linen is fairer than the pearls, and I should rather have the beautiful white thing that is on the grass in the sunshine than all the diamonds in the hall of the goddess." ”

“ Napkin of linen embroidered in white thread; ground, plain white linen; design, a conventional rectangular floriation, filled in with other floriations, and in the middle an eight-petaled flower, and in the square intervening spaces outside a fleur-de-lis shooting out of each corner, all in white broad thread. German, late 14th century. 23 inches by 131⁄4 inches.
Like many other examples of the kind, the present one can show its elaborate and beautifully-executed design only by being held up to the light, when it comes forth in perfection. ”

“ Marvellously fine linen, but so strong that it could be worn a hundred years without going into holes, lace of the finest, with the history of the world worked into its pattern, toys of all descriptions that a child would love to play with, and a cradle ornamented with rubies and diamonds, and supported by four Cupids ready to rock it should the baby cry. ”

“ Returning, I circled the city and passed the weavers’ dwellings, where I was greatly interested in the looms these clever people had invented. They wove the finest linen I have ever seen, and a material much worn by the women which seemed to me softer and more exquisitely finished than the best of our silks. ”

“ The shutters were closed, and the afternoon sun shot yellow shafts against floors and walls. There was a perfume of lavender, of rose leaves.
"Somewhere in one of these closets there is a roll of linen." She opened one after another, looking into each. "No; it is not here. Then it must be in there. Yes; here it is. This linen was spun and woven from flax grown on your great-great-grandfather's land. Look at it! It is beautifully made. Each generation of the family has inherited part and left the rest for generations yet to come. Half of it is yours, half is Dent's. ”

“ The reality is a more or less tattered strip of grayish-white linen, two feet in width and two hundred and thirty feet long, and along this frail bridge between the past and present march the actors in the great conquest. ”

“ Great care should be exercised in the choice of the linen, which should be unbleached and closely and evenly woven, coarse or fine, according to the nature of the work to be done on it. The inexperienced would do well to buy their linen not from drapers, but from the best embroidery shops, stating for what purpose they require it, whether for heavy gold-work, fine floss, &c.
To stretch the linen on to the frame, cut the linen, ‘by the thread,’ rather wider than the webbing which is attached to two bars of the frame. Turn down the edges evenly. ”

“ For needlework for more ordinary uses, linen is by far the most pleasing and enduring web. Unlike silk on the one side, and wool on the other, it has scarcely any limitations in treatment, or in material suitable to be used on it. For hangings it can be chosen of a loose large texture, and covered with bold work executed in silk, linen thread, or wool, or it can be chosen of the finest thread, and covered with minute delicate stitches; it can be worked equally well in the hand, or in a frame, and usually the more it is handled the better it looks. ”

“ To see linen in your dream, augurs prosperity and enjoyment.
If a person appears to you dressed in linen garments, you will shortly be the recipient of joyful tidings in the nature of an inheritance.
If you are apparelled in clean, fine linen, your fortune and fullest enjoyment in life is assured. If it be soiled, sorrow and ill luck will be met with occasionally, mingled with the good in your life. ”

“ Darned net, drawn work, fine linen sketched with indelible ink or worked in outline, would make equally dainty tidies, while the fact that they can be easily laundried makes their name seem no longer a misnomer. ”

“ I am always touched, when handling the homespun linens of olden times, with a sense that the vitality and strength of those enduring women, through the many tedious and exhausting processes which they had bestowed, were woven into the warp and woof with the flax, and gave to the old webs of linen their permanence and their beautiful texture. ”

“ There is nothing now left to support your complaint but the printed linen; which, though it is become a general wear, yet is our own product and growth, and the labour of our own poor; for the Scots and Irish, by whom the linen is manufactured, are our own subjects, and ought as much to be in our concern as any of the rest, and that linen is as much our own manufacture as the silk and the wool. ”

“ Linen.—The almost universal wing covering is fine, unbleached Irish linen, stretched rather loosely on the wing frames and then treated with dope.
The linen used weighs 33⁄4 to 43⁄4 oz. per square yard, and should have a strength with the length of the cloth or “warp” of at least 60 lb. per inch of width. The strength in this direction is slightly greater than that taken crosswise of the cloth or on the filler or weft. There is a gain of strength and tautness by varnishing or “doping.” ”

“ A thick twisted silk is excellent for big and coarse work on linen, the stitches used being on the same scale, big and bold, and finer silk used sparingly if needed. White linen thread is often the material employed for linen altar cloths, coverlets, etc., and some extremely choice examples of such work are to be seen in{371} our museums, some worked roughly with a large linen thread and big stitches, some with patient minuteness. It is hardly necessary to say how important the design of such work is. ”

“ Answered the king, “Flax linen! [47] For a strong gale can only mean that it is used in making sails for ships that ply [48] the sea, which billowing sails are driven by strong winds. Now these linen stalks, after retting, are first scutched and hackled to expose the good fibres, [49] hence the great and bitter shout it makes. And, like bulrushes, the seed heads of its stalks are rippled, favouring [50] to bow down. ”

“ Shall we take a small piece of linen and try and copy the little picture we have of the stitch just for practice? When you have tacked a hem along, draw out five of the horizontal threads of your linen, just beneath the edge of the hem.
They don’t look very pleased to meet, do they? ”

“ The housekeeper in selecting linen at the counter may test the linen by ravelling out some of the threads. The threads that form the woof as well as the warp should be strong, and long thread linen. Never buy linen that is stiff and glossy, as it will be thin after it is laundered. Linen should be substantial, but pliant when crushed in the hand. Never buy a table-cloth that is part linen and part cotton, as the shrinkage of linen and cotton fibre varies greatly, which causes the threads to break, and the table-cloth will soon be full of holes.
[Pg 73]
Laundry Work. ”

“ The most delicate silks, the finest linen, and fine cloth of every description, that were ever produced upon the earth, are right here in this valley, and it requires nothing more than a philosophical application to bring them forth to administer to our wants. ”

“ Yarn-dyed or other good COLOURED LINEN and UNBLEACHED TWILLED LINEN are particularly suitable for use in the colonies and for poor churches at home. Both texture and colouring can be obtained in great perfection, and when worked in pure flax threads, which are also made in many degrees of thickness and almost as much variety of shade and colour as embroidery silks, they will defy the ravages of white ants abroad and the poisonous air of slums at home. ”

“ One bride we know included a twenty-yard bolster of uncut linen in her trousseau in addition to the items mentioned above. If one can afford it, it is best to start out with a generous supply of linens, as somehow the older they grow, the longer we have them, the more precious they become. ”

“ Not that it is necessary to work in linen thread on linen ground, in silk on silk ground, and so forth; silk upon linen, silk on canvas, wool on{366} linen, are legitimate, because suitable combinations; it being scarcely necessary to note that linen or wool threads should not be used on silk surface, as to place the poorer on the richer material would be an error in taste. Gold thread and precious stones will of course be reserved for the richer grounds, and the more elaborate kinds of work. ”

“ The linen should be loosely-woven so that the warp and weft threads can be gathered easily together without puckering the work—if hand-made, so much the better; a linen working thread, strong but fine, and a thick needle are required so as to separate the strands of the material. ”

“ I did just venture to inquire what use I could possibly make of four superficial inches of fine linen, surrounded by very delicate openwork, not less than a foot in width, and was immediately answered, “And shure, yer honner'll be for buying the handkercher, to dry up the tares of the swate young lady, as is waping for ye over the says.” ”

“ I have derived very considerable convenience from sorting all my linen into sets: for instance, a shirt, an undershirt, (commonly called a banian,) a pair of stockings, two neck handkerchiefs, and a pocket ditto: these I rolled up as tight as could be effected by manual force, and surrounded with a towel, which, being pinned, kept all fast and clean. In this form my linen could be packed in a very small space. Foul linen should always be put up in the same manner. ”

“ In my opinion, linen is next best, but it does not wear as well as leather, and serge, which is in general use and is found in most saddles, is not as good a material for lining as either leather or linen. It is not durable, it becomes very dirty, it is hard to dry, and, unless it is kept clean and dry, it rubs the horse’s back badly. ”

“ And irrespective of the width of linen, there are occasions when the length may require addition (such, for instance, as the enlargement of a fair linen cloth for an altar) . It is a recognised law of art that Beauty should be called forth by Necessity; [87] and the hiding, covering, or ornamenting a seam was perhaps the very first incentive to embroidery!
Fig. III.—Modern Albe
If it is a cut edge which is to be joined to another in this manner, each piece of stuff is hemmed separately. ”

“ What modern linen is as firm, solid, and close-woven, and capable of being used a hundred years hence as this can be used to-day? What needle-work so fine? One can hardly believe that the same hands which made the soap and greased the wool could hem like that, embroider the finest edging 56 and other work, make bead-bags, and knit the daintiest lace. ”

“ Napkins, quilts, bedspreads, and sheets, as well as large-flowered damask table-cloths and linen covers testify to the industry of the women of the family. The good wife lost her long gowns and short gowns, her "shifts of 500 linen," handkerchiefs of gauze, lawn, and linen, aprons of new flowered lawn, fine linen and homespun, 3 caps of cambric and lawn, all new, and even two bibs for a child. ”

“ When storing linen, camphor, lavender, cedar wood, etc., are just as necessary for its preservation as they are for woollen goods, and it is said that an apple, hung up till quite dry, then studded all over with cloves, stuck in up to the head, is very potent when attached to the top of the drawer of the chest, or hung on the inside of the door, if the chest be made in this way. All linen should be well aired before putting away. ”

“ He also observes, “The common people in Egypt are clothed in [Pg 368] linen only, dyed blue with indigo; but those of better fortune have a black cloak over their linen shirt.”
The coarse linen of the Ancient Egyptians was called Φώσων. It was made of thick flax, and was used for towels (σουδάρια, Julius Pollux, vii. c. 16.) , and for sails (Φώσσωνας, Lycophron, v. 26.) [483] . Φώσων may be translated canvass, or sail-cloth.
[483] Jablonski Glossarium Vocum Ægyptiarum, in Valpy’s edition of Steph. Thesaur. tom. i. p. CCXCV.
Fine linen, on the other hand, was called Ὀθόνη. ”

“ If the store keeper sells it for union, it [198] is honest; if he calls it linen, and you pay linen price, it is dishonest. Ravel and untwist the ends of the warp and filling thread. Cotton will be fuzzy, linen should be long and lustrous. Round threads of linen are best. The linen threads appear pointed at the ends when separated. The all linens made from the tow (you have learned what that is) are cheaper than those made from the line. Why? They will not last quite so well.
Wet the linen. Water spreads more rapidly on linen than on cotton. ”