Not Fancy Enough Yet

We now have brown linen fabric. But that fabric was dull and coarse and only used for utilitarian purposes. The upper class wanted finer quality material. So... More work is required. 

The bleaching of brown linen involved natural and chemical processes.  The cloth was boiled in an alkali solution of water and wood ashes, seaweed and fermented bran. Then it was rinced and spread on lawn to dry in the sun and air

Here is a photo of miles of linen being stretched and laid out on the lawn to bleach in the sunlight. 

Next the whitened cloth was steeped in buttermilk, rinsed and lain in the grass again.  These processes were repeated several times. The entire production could take up to six months!!!

Because of the value of the cloth laid on the green, small watch huts were built so that a guard could keep watch.  Thefts were even punishable in the courts by death.

Here is a photo of the brown natural linen and a white bleached linen on the right.

Examples of stamps that would be used as seals to authenticate the value of the now bleached linen.