TYPES OF YARN AND FIBER USED IN TEXTILE. (LINEN)

Types of yarn and fiber used in textile:-

LINEN:-

Linen is a textile made from the fiber of flax plant.

image of a linen handkerchief with drawn threads work around the edge.

image of linen cloth recovered from Qumran Cave1 near the Dead Sea.

Linen is a very strong, asbestos and dries faster then cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments . It also has other distinctive characterstics of notably it's tendency to wrinkle. 

Linen textiles appears to be some of the oldest in the world, their history goes back many thousands of years. Dyed flax fiber found in a caves in South Eastern Europe (present Georgia) , suggest the use of woven linen fabrics from wild  flax may date back over 30,000 years. Linen was used in ancient civilizations including Mesopoternia and the ancient Egypt and linen is mentioned in Bible. In the 18th century and beyond, the linen industry was important in the economies of several countries in Europe as well as the American colonies.

Textiles in a linen weave texture, even when made of cotton, hemp or other non flax fibers are also loosely referred to as linen.

Etymology:-

The word linen is of Germanic origin and cognate to the Latin name for flax plant , linum , and the earlier Greek. 

This word history has given rise to a number of other term in English , most notably line. It is also etomologically related to a number of other terms, including lining , because linen was often used to create an inner layer for clothing, and lingrie from French, which originally denoted underwear made from linen.

HISTORY:-

Image of a bag of white linen unopened rolls of linen . Foundation deposit, Heb Sed Chapel at Lahun , Fayum, Egypt, 12th Dynasty . The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archeology London.

People in various parts of the world began weaving linen at least several thousands year ago . It was recovered from Qumran Cave1 near the Dead Sea.

Early history:-

This discovery of dyed flax fiber in a cave in South Eastern Europe (present day Georgia) dated to 36,000 years ago suggests that ancient people used wild flax fibers to create linen like fabrics from an early date.

Fragments of straw, seeds, fibers yarns and various types of fabrics , including linen sample dating to about 8000 BC have been found in Swiss lake dwellings. . 

Woven flax textile 'fragments have been found between infant and child" in a burial at catalhoyuk, a large settlement dating to around 7,000 BC . To the South West in ancient Mesopotamia, flax was domesticated and linen was produce . It was  used mainly by the wealthier class of the society including preists. The Sumerian poem of the countership of Inanna mentions flax and linen.

In ancient Egypt, linen was used for mummification and for burial shroud. It was also worn as clothing on a daily basis, white linen was worn because of the extreme heat. 

For example , the Thurkan dress , considered to be among the oldest woven garments in the world and dated between 3482 and 3102 BC is made of linen . Pluctarch is wrote that the premises of Isis is also wore linen because of its purities . Linen was sometimes use as form of currency in ancient Egypt. Egyptian were wrapped in line as a symbol of light and purity and as display of weath some of these fabrics woven hand spun yarns were very fine for their day but are coarse compared with modern linen. When the tomb of the pharaoh Ramses II who died in 1213 BC was discovered in 1881, the linen wrappings were in a state of perfect preservation after more than 3000 years. 

In the Ulster Museum, Bellfast , there is a mummy of "Takabuti" the daughter of a priest of Amun, who died 2500 years ago . The linen on this mummy is also in perfect state of preservation.

image of "Dioletian's 4th century maximum prices edict showing prices for 3;grades of linen across the Roman Empire"

The earliest written documentation of a linen industry comes from the linear B tablets of Pylos Greece, were linen is deposited as an ideogram and also written as "Li-no" (Greeks linen) and female linen worker's are as Li-no-ya.

image of Ancient coptic material.

Middle Ages:-

By the middle ages, there were a thriving track in German flax and linen . The trade spread through out Germany by  the 9th century and spread to Flandes and Brabant by the 11th century. The lower Rhine was a center of linen making in the middle ages. Flax was cultivated and linen used for clothing is Ireland by the 11th century. Endence suggests that flax may have been grown and sold in Southern England in the 12th and 13th century.

Textiles, primarily linen and wool , were produced in decentralised home weaving Mills.

Modern History:-

Linen continued to be valued for garments in the 16th century and beyond. Specimens of linen garments worn by historical figures have sevived . For example , a linen cap worn by Emperor Charles V was carefully preserved after his death in 1558. There is a long history of the production of linen in Ireland when Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685, may of the Huguenots who fled France settled in the British Isles and elsewhere. They brought improved methods for linen production with then contributing to the growth of the linen industry in Ireland in particular. Among them was Louis Crommelin , a leader who was appointed overfeed of the royal linen manufacturer of Ireland. He settled in the town of Lisbun near Belfast , which is itself perhaps the most famous linen producing center through out history during Victorian era the majority of the world's linen produced in the city ,which gained it the name Linopolis. Although the linen industry was alread established in Ulster, Louis Crommelin found scope for improvement in weaving and his efforts were so successful that he was appointed by the Government to develop the small confine of Lisbun and is surroundngs.The direct result of his good work was the establishment under statute of the Board of Trustee of the linen. 

Manufacturers of the Ireland in the year 1711. Several grades were produced including coarse Lockram. The living linen Project was setup in 1995 as an oral archive of the knowledge of the Irish linen industry, which was at that time still available within a nucleus of people who firmly worked in the in industry in Ulster.

The linen industry was increasing by critical in the economies of Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries in England and then in Germany industrialisation and machine production moved from the home to new factories.

Linen was also important product in the American colonies, whe it was brought over with the first settlers and because the most commonly used fabric and a valuable assets for colonial house holds. The homespun movement encouraged the use of flax to make home spun textiles. Through the 1830 s most farmers in the  Northern United States continued to grow flax for linen to be used for the family's clothings.

In the late 19th anf early 20th centuries linen was very significant to Russia and it's economy. At one time it was the countries greatest export item and Russi produced about 80% of the world's fiber flax corp.

In December 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be the international year of natural fibers in order to raise people awareness of linen and other natural fibers.

One study suggests that the functional properties of line fabric can be improved by incorporating chitosan-citric acid and phytic acid thiourea. The effect of this process include improved levels of antibacterial activity increased wrinkle resistance, flame retardent UV protection and antioxidant properties Additionally the linen fabric was able to retain durability for about 20 washes.

Ref:-https://en.m.wikioedia.org

 

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