Someone asking us- Types of Linen Fabric?...

Linen fabric or weave is made of fiber from the flax plant, which is widely valued for its durability and strength, as well as its antifungal and antibacterial properties. There are various types of the linen fabric, which can be distinguished from each other by their texture and their weave pattern.

Damask

1. Damask is a type of linen fabric that is woven on a jacquard loom, using a combination of plain and satin weaves. The fibers are usually flat and reversible, and the damask fabric itself has a smooth texture with a reversible design. It usually comes in one color and is most often used for napkins, tablecloths, table runners and other household materials.
   Venise is a very finely textured variety of damask linen fabric. Unlike damask, however, it is characterized by large floral patterns.

Palin-woven

2. Glass toweling is a plain-woven, smooth linen fabric that gets its name from its most common use--for wiping glassware. It typically has a check or striped pattern of red or blue on a white background. Glass toweling has a loose weave that makes it more absorbent and well-suited for cleaning purposes, but also makes it relatively less durable.
   Holland linen is a plain-woven linen fabric that is treated with oil and starch, making it opaque and hard for the sunlight to penetrate. This quality makes it well-suited for use in making window shades and lampshades.
   Cambric linen is the thinnest and finest variety of linen. This plain woven linen fabric gets its name from Cambria, France, where it was first produced. It is often used for making handkerchiefs, lingerie, doilies and sheers.
   Butcher's linen, which has a strong, plain weave, is stiff, coarse and commonly used for heavy-duty clothing such as butcher aprons. It's woven by using thin and thick yarns.

Loosely-woven

3. Bird's eye linen is characterized by small geometric patterns that are reminiscent of a bird's eye. It is loosely woven to make it highly absorbent and is commonly used for diapers and sanitary towels. Huckaback is another loosely woven type of linen fabric that is commonly produced from a blend of cotton and linen. It is woven in towel lengths. Art linen is produced from hand-twisted yarns and has a smooth finish.

Sheeting

4. This is a heavy type of linen that is usually used in the manufacture of sheets. Another characteristic it has is that of being wide. It is also used in the making of materials for suits and dresses. It has an advantage over the other types of linen because of its wider width, which makes it easier to cut patterns for garments of different lengths and sizes.

Toweling

5. This is the name that is given for all the types of linen that are suitable for the manufacture of towels. Toweling linen comes in different sizes; towels are used for a wide range of purposes.
   Linen is considered a luxurious material because processing it from the flax fibers is not an easy procedure, yet the end product is usually very strong and has a high aesthetic value.

High Quality Linen Fabrics - Sample ..

Why Fabric Linen?

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather.

Textiles in a linen-weave texture, even when made of cotton, hemp and other non-flax fibers are also loosely referred to as "linen". Such fabrics generally have their own specific names other than linen; for example, fine cotton yarn in a linen-style weave is called Madapolam.

The collective term "linens" is still often used generically to describe a class of woven and even knitted bed, bath, table and kitchen textiles. The name linens is retained because traditionally, linen was used for many of these items. In the past, the word "linens" was also used to mean lightweight undergarments such as shirts, chemises, waistshirts, lingerie (a word which is cognate with linen), and detachable shirt collars and cuffs, which were historically made almost exclusively out of linen.

Linen textiles appear to be some of the oldest in the world: their history goes back many thousands of years. Fragments of straw, seeds, fibers, yarns, and various types of fabrics which date back to about 8000 BC have been found in Swiss lake dwellings. Dyed flax fibers found in a prehistoric cave in the Republic of Georgia suggest the use of woven linen fabrics from wild flax may date back even earlier to 36,000 BP.

Linen was sometimes used as currency in ancient Egypt. Egyptian mummies were wrapped in linen because it was seen as a symbol of light and purity, and as a display of wealth. Some of these fabrics, woven from hand spun yarns, were very fine for their day, but are coarse compared to modern linen.

Today linen is usually an expensive textile, and is produced in relatively small quantities. It has a long "staple" (individual fiber length) relative to cotton and other natural fibers.

Many products are made of linen: apron, bags, towels (swimmers, bath, beach, body and wash towel), napkins, bed linen, linen tablecloth, runners, chair cover, man and woman wear.