Flax

The Apple Oak Fibreworks 

 Seed to fabric school project : Flax

The flax in flower 

The Seed to Garment School Project has grown out of my love for flax (the plant responsible for the production of linen). I love the feel of it and I love to wear it. One day I wanted to know more about flax and discovered that it was once very popular in Ireland and that our neighbouring village, Mountshannon, was founded and build for flax growers. I discovered that unfortunately, the English Government forbade export of linen from Ireland in 1699 and concentrated the production of the linen fabric to Northern Ireland only – where it is still woven today.





Elsewhere the trade deteriorated further once cotton became more widely available. Through further research I discovered, that a village called Mountshannon in Co. Clare, only 5 miles from Apple Oak Fiberworks, was traditionally founded and build for the growers of flax. The village was built on the shores of Lough Derg so the flax could be retted (a very smelly rotting process) straight after harvest.

Flax Retting

The people of Mountshannon would have grown, retted and processed the flax, until it was ready to go to the spinners and weavers, many of whom would have been located in Newmarket-on-Fergus. From there it would have continued to the linen halls in Limerick ready for shipment. Of course, there was a lot more involved, especially politcally and socially, this being a brief introduction for now, which I will add to as the project develops.

After much research and time,  we eventually met with the young people from the ALFA Project where my eldest daughter attends, providing 'a full-time, progressive education for 12-16 year olds.' They were thrilled to take it on as part of their school program; and even though flax growing has become a much loved community project in Europe over the last couple of years, we will take the project that little bit further – involving local history, botanical dyes and drama. You can follow the flax project here: https://appleoakfiberworks.blogspot.ie/ on Olanand.ie and on http://www.alfaproject.org

Flax flowering in August

 An outline of the project

During the coming year students from the ALFA Project -http://www.alfaproject.org/  - will harvest the flax (planted earlier this year by their parents), process the fibres using traditional methods and tools they make themselves, spin the fibre into linen and use plant dyes for dyeing. These will then be used for a variety of artistic craft projects.  They will also study the history of the linen industry in Ireland  -  a prism through which to view the whole story of political and cultural conflict and transformation over the centuries.





They will use what they have experienced and learned as the material for an original drama to be performed in various venues around Easter 2018.

N. inspecting the flax growing in June!