Flax to Linen - The Movie!

 The Flax to Linen Victoria group did not participate in public demonstrations this past year, but we have not been idle.  

We found another way to reach out and share our passion with a larger audience.  We made a video.  

 

Watch our members demonstrate the processes from planting the seeds through processing and weaving the fibre into cloth.  

Demonstration Dates for 2019

The Flax to Linen group of Victoria will be attending three public events in 2019.  Everyone is welcome to come to our hands-on demonstration of how to transform straw into gold (flax into linen).

• Fibrations, at the Fairfield Gonzales Community Place, 1330 Fairfield Road, Victoria, BC, Canada Sunday, from 10am to 4pm, 18th of August, 2019

• Back again at Heritage Acres, on the 21st of September, 2019

Homegrown Linen - the book!

One of our members has written a book about growing flax!

Homegrown Linen:
Transforming Flaxseed into Fibre

by Raven Ranson
Grow linen yarn sustainably at home. Reclaim the traditional skill of growing flax, extracting the fibres, and preparing them for spinning.

Homegrown linen is both a conceptual and hands-on book about gardening, homesteading, and creating yarn.  Appropriate for all levels of experience from the yarn-curious to the master spinner.

Discover: how to grow flax for fibre • how to adapt growing techniques to your conditions using permaculture techniques • how to create a personalized fibre flax variety • how to process fibre from straw • the tools • tips and tricks for working with linen • other uses for flax
The book is illustrated by Tracy Wandling, and will feature drawings of the flax plant, the tools used, and even one of Raven turning the dew retting flax.

Also featuring full colour, stunning colour photos of the process of creating linen yarn using homegrown flax.

Part of the 2017 flax to linen Victoria harvest

Softcover book
108 pages total
12 full-colour pages
eco-friendly paper by a carbon-neutral, local printer
ISBN: 978-1-9994733-0-3

Learn more about Homegrown Linen here.

Flax to Linen Victoria - 2018-2019

As of 2018 and 2019, Flax to Linen Victoria is demonstrating at three events per year:

Two events at SHAS (the Saanich Historical Artifacts Society), early summer and at the thrashing festival in September.

and

Fibrations, the largest fibre festival in Victoria, BC, Canada.

When we have more updates, we'll post them on this blog.  You can receive email updates by subscribing to the right of the screen under "Follow by Email".

The Flax to Linen Group of Victoria has been active for over a decade now - doing educational displays at festivals, events and markets.  We are currently undertaking a fallow period while we pursue our individual artistic endeavours.

Where to buy fibre flax seed

Here are some places we found Fibre Flax seed for sale.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds occasionally has fibre flax available.  Perhaps if more people start requesting it, they will bring it back as a regular item.

They also carry a few other heritage varieties of flax that look promising for fibre production. Just because they don't say these are for making linen, doesn't mean they can't be used for it.  All flax has fibre hidden in its stem, perhaps it just needs the right conditions to make it useable.  So far, I've had the best luck with their perennial flax.


Richters Herbs also has fibre flax from time to time.

At the moment of writing, they have Evelin Fibre flax in stock, but Regina Fibre Flax is out of stock.   They also have a listing called 'flax' which may also be useful for fibre making.  I can't tell how tall it is from the description, but if one had the room, it would be worth trying.



Wild Fibres UK also has flaxseed, however, I don't know if they ship overseas or not.

Flax for Sale is a place in the US that sells seeds as well as fibre for spinning.  They don't mention if they ship internationally.

Woolgatherers sells Marilyn Flax seed which originates from Holland.


Know of any other sources of flaxseed?  Please let us know in the comments section.

videos spinning flax into linen

An example of spinning flax into linen.

And here's Monique dressing a distaff with line flax, ready for spinning fine linen thread.

Our next public demonstration is at Heritage Acres on Sept 16th, 2017.

2015 Aug 16 - Our demo at Fibrations Victoria turned out great. What a crowd there was. Lots of people wanting to try it out and more young people this year I think breaking, scutching and hackling. Thank goodness for Liz bringing us the tent as it was a hot day and Nancy Bissonnette getting some pictures. I printed out lots of pamphlets and they were all gone before the end of the day. I think that's a good sign that people are interested. Of course, we were at Fibrations where everyone is interested in fibre which explains it.  New photos on Flicker.