The value of the quality

Cultivation and spinning

Sowing is between March and April. The flowering period follows and continues up until July. Alternating sun and rain is required to reach good maturing. Linen is mature when the stock turns yellow, the leaves fall and the seed pods turn brown showing that it is ready to harvest. This is done by pulling the plants up by the roots and laying them evenly on the ground where they are left to macerate for three weeks. With the combined action of the wind, rain, frost and sun a fermentation process starts on the plants aided by fungi and bacteria, capable of corroding natural cements, trapping the fibre in the woody part of the plant. This helps the fibre come away: linen is collected and deposited in a sheltered place where it is left for a few months. The following scutching operation is mechanical which removes the woody pith. The quality part is collected in bundles.

The raw material is checked and classified by means of representative samples of the different batches both at the supplier's and spinner's. In hackling, the bundles are first worked on a hackling machine after which they are clamped and hackled by going through mantles which are fitted with a series of points that rotate. With this operation we have paralleling of the fibres and their selection to be worked in the process defined as “long fibre” resulting in a continuous strip that then goes on to the preparation phase. Here a series of operations refines and cleans the fibre.