Flax Processing

Before industrially produced textiles became available in Hesse’s rural regions, making household linen and clothes were tasks of great significance. Besides wool, flax was the most common raw material. It was grown almost everywhere, made into linen, bleached, and then used to make underwear, bed or table linen, or bags. Flax normally grew in the fields for a hundred days before harvest, when it was pulled out complete with its roots. The bundles of dried flax were drawn through a so-called hackle to separate their seed capsules. The following steps all had the objective of separating the fibres running through the stalks from the woody parts surrounding them. Flax harvest and processing were in the women’s sphere of responsibilities.