Linsey – Woolsey
and the yarns that go into it

The legend of Linsey – Woolsey goes back in American history to the earliest days. There are a number of different fabrics that have been called linsey – woolsey and even to this day the name is used, even on fabrics that contain no linen and no wool.

Thus there seems to be a good deal of misunderstanding of what the original Linsey – Woolsey was like. Originally, Linsey – Woolsey was a fabric of necessity. In the early days of colonial America, imports of fabrics from England were unreliable and even then, were mostly expensive fabrics for the wealthy that lived along the seacoast. Farmers, other colonists, and the less well-to-do did not have either the access or the money to afford imported fabrics.

But colonial farmers did have sheep and they could grow flax. Although it was labor intensive, flax fiber could be spun into a strong linen yarn with low tech processing. The stalks of the flax plant, which generally grows 3 to 4 feet, were cut down and allowed to “ret” in the fields. This exposure to the elements allows microscopic bacteria to begin decomposition that allows the linen fiber to be removed. The stalks would then be crushed and hackled. Hackling could be accomplished by taking the crushed stalks and pulling them through a simple set of upright nails to form a primitive comb.

It was back breaking work to rip the fibers from the stalks by hand (I did this once in Ireland for a few minutes- that was enough). Once you had the fibers removed from the flax plant, they could be carded by a finer comb than nails. It would probably have been the same comb that was used to process the wool (more on the wool later). The purpose of the carding (in the machine age combing took on a meaning of it’s own as a separate machine process) would be to make the linen fiber as parallel as possible. The end result of this would be termed sliver and would be a fairly thick strand of fiber ready for the spinning wheel where fingers and the skill of the spinner would determine how fine, even and strong the yarn was spun. Finally after growing, cutting, retting, crushing, hackling and spinning, there would be a yarn ready for weaving. Because of its inherent strength and durability, linen yarn was the preferred yarn for the warp yarns in a linsey – woolsey fabric as it was less likely to break during hand weaving than a handspun wool yarn.

The wool yarn would have gone through a different growth cycle, in that shearing would take place in the spring when the sheep still had their winter coat and the wool fiber was at its longest. One sheared, the “grease wool” as it would have been known, would have had the lanolin removed in order to make a shirt or pants or blanket. 

The lanolin could be removed by washing the fiber and would have been saved to make – you guessed it – hand creams and a base ingredient in any number of balms. While I have seen lanolin being removed in a mechanical scouring process, the lanolin would have required further purification as directly off the sheep it is a rather dirty and smelly affair as well as having seeds and whatever else was stuck in the sheep’s fleece.

Once the fibers were cleaned, a carding process was begun of running the fibers over a “card’ (a grouping of fine wires), using either a hand card (or a round drum type). Again, a sliver would be produced, but unlike linen, wool fiber would not be as parallel for spinning as linen because wool has an inherently different shape and because of its natural curl.

Again a spinning wheel would have been used to spin from the relatively heavy, thick sliver down to the final yarn size. Although both fibers have a natural tendency to create variation in the yarn, the wool would have been subject to more obvious changes in diameter creating weaker and stronger areas. Since the linen yarn’s job was to hold the wool in place, these variations were not a problem for a hand weaver making perhaps a few feet of fabric in many hours.

Getting color onto the yarn and thus in the fabric was also a time consuming effort. Various native plants could be used, the most famous being indigo. (Originally from India) Plants can be found in most climates to create a range of colors. The natural dye would be pulverized or crushed as much as possible and put in a kettle to boil. In Colonial America most would have been dyed once the wool had been cleaned, but before the spinning to get the best color. This process is also the origin of the term “Dyed in the Wool”.

At the point the dyer felt the color was “right” a mordant would be added to “fix” the color. This could be as simple as salt or tin, but could also be a variety of other ingredients, as often the mordant chosen would change the color of the final yarn color. The fiber would have to be dried and carded into a sliver (also called roving depending on the fiber and type of spinning process – but that’s a story for another time).

Now the yarns could be put on a warp – usually a cylinder, which the yarn was wrapped around. This allows the weaver to make a longer piece of cloth than say, tying all the yarns to a tree (a tried and true ancient technique). The weave was a plain weave of one end of wool going over one end of linen yarn and under the next. 

Finally after many hours of weaving, a fabric would be produced that could be cut and sewed into a garment or blanket. Because of linen’s strength and wool’s insulating and durability, the fabric would have a long life.

Unfortunately, a fabric produced exactly as colonial farmers would have done it, would be unspeakably expensive today. Also, the general quality of wool used today for suits and coats is the result of several hundred years of additional breeding- mainly in Australia where the original merino sheep removed from Spain (actually stolen) have become hundreds of millions, and where today the very finest wools in the world still fetch $200 per lb. or more in the grease.

My partner and I together have over fifty years of experience in the textile business and both of us went to the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences (Formerly Philadelphia School of Textiles, now Philadelphia University). I specialize in yarns, my partner in weaving; and I have been involved in the linen and wool business for over thirty years, handling everything from the least expensive linens for carpet backing ( a rarity today) to the finest “wet spun” linen used in apparel outfits that start at $1500 and up. Even so, it took nearly six months to locate the linen that “looked” right. It is subject to an additional process to try to match an original linsey – woolsey fabric in texture and color. The wool used in the fabric, while scratchy by today’s standards, certainly is equal to and maybe even slightly finer than the wool available to someone on frontier America. Many people wash our fabrics first, both to shrink it and to soften the feel (or “hand”) of the fabric. If you want that crisp “just made” look, we would recommend dry cleaning. However, it is certain that these fabrics and the garments made from them would have not been handled so delicately. They were probably boiled in lye to clean. If you intend to try machine washing be extremely careful – wool is notorious for felting and shrinking – especially if agitated. 

After the revolutionary war, with the development of the cotton gin and Mr. Slater setting up his yarn spinning business in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, cotton yarns and fabric became more available. By the 1820’s and 1830’s cotton fabric would have been much more widely in use. Even though cotton was much better against the skin, linsey – woolsey continued to be used for garments such as pants, shirts and jackets because of its ability to withstand rugged use and still provide protection to the wearer. This was especially important as the frontier moved relentlessly westward.

While our fabrics and yarns are produced on machines (not the most modern by any means) we have attempted to capture the original fabric in all its aspects. Considering the enormous work a frontier family had to go through to create this fabric, I am hoping you can appreciate our attempt to make a fabric as close as possible to the original. (We proudly manufacture this fabric in the USA.)

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