Linbasta i Backa

Long before cotton and synthetic materials became common in clothing, wool, flax, and hemp were the textile fibers used in Swedish textile production. When industrialization took off during the 19th century and manufacturers began importing cotton, flax faced strong competition from the easy-to-handle cotton, which was simpler to process into yarn using machinery. Up until the mid-1800s, large quantities of flax were grown in Sweden, and in 1870, 16,000 hectares of Swedish flax were cultivated. Just 30 years later, the area had dropped to 1,000 hectares.

The labor-intensive process of preparing flax begins with the entire plant being pulled up from the ground, roots and all. Initially, bundles of flax were made for easier transportation and hung on drying poles to dry. Then, the seed capsules were removed using a seed ripper, and the straw was spread out on a meadow or field where the retting process began. With the help of weather, wind, fungi, and bacteria, the slow decomposition process commenced, separating the flax fibers from the hard core. Thanks to retting, it became easier to extract the flax threads, which could then be dried in the flax barn to weaken and make the threads more porous from the heat.

Only when the flax was sufficiently brittle did the breaking begin, as the flax fibers were forcefully beaten apart. The textile fibers were then treated through scutching to remove remaining fragments so that the flax became soft before being drawn through a prickly tool (hackling) to separate the shiny fibers that could be spun into yarn.

Today, the demand for Swedish flax is significantly higher, largely due to its versatility in applications ranging from textiles to insulation, food, wood treatment, and linseed oil paint. There are likely more than 400 different varieties of flax, but only about 15 are suitable for textile fibers. Swedish weaving mills are seeking domestic production, and there are once again good prospects for commercially cultivating flax on Swedish farms