Headscarf in Ginger 185
The Ellis in Goodnight 185
The Curlew in Oxblood 185

The Cloth

Linen has many great qualities. It’s naturally stain-resistant, anti-bacterial, and biodegradable. Our 185 range is our bread and butter. The cloth is a light/medium weight linen that works with so many of our patterns. It sews up gathered dresses, skirts, and shirts beautifully. 

 

Production & Certification

Linen is made with flax, a plant native to northern Europe. There, farming flax still respects the land and surrounding wildlife; protecting soil and water resources as the crop needs no extra water (rain water alone is enough to grow it) and uses very little fertiliser or pesticides.
The hardy plant can grow in poor soil conditions and is an excellent “break crop”, improving the quality of the soil as it grows. The crop also serves as a carbon sink – a single hectare of flax can remove 3.7 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. In flax production, nothing is wasted. Every part of the plant is used to create linseed oil, paper, cattle feed or soap.

The 185 range is a European linen produced in a mill run on green energy. The fabric is Oeko-Tex certified and the dyes used on the cloth are GOTS certified. 
 

Suitable Patterns

 

How to sew 185 linen

  • While the needle size for your project will entirely depend on the pattern you’ve chosen, our general rule of thumb: we recommend using a size 10 needle for a pattern with relatively little bulk (like The Trapeze), whereas you may use a size 12 on The Miller as you need to work through multiple layers of linen.
  • The key to a successful linen handmade garment starts with careful and considered preparation. Before you cut your pattern out, be sure to iron the cloth as linen wrinkles easily. 
  • We recommend pulling a thread to enable you to set up the cloth before placing on your pattern pieces. 
  • Be warned, linen is susceptible to drawing out when cut on the bias. For some projects it may be helpful to staystitch areas such as necklines and armholes.
  • As linen tends to shift around, sewing around curves can be tricky. We often mark our seam allowance on curved pattern pieces to help honour the seam allowance accurately.
  • Linen may fray as it's being handled; we like to mark the notches with chalk as well as snipping into the cloth by 5mm.
  • Linen will wiggle about when pressing up a hem so to sew a neat hem, we recommend that you first run a line of machine stitching along your garment at the ‘finished hem’ line. This will help you press up the allowance neatly, as the fabric will naturally want to fold along the stitched line. 

 

The Fielder in 185 Knapsack
Pillow in Mr. Citrus 185
The Sunday in Scuttle Black 185

 

Fabric Care

How to pre-wash 185 linen

While the 185 linen range has been tumbled at the mill and technically does not need to be pre-washed, we are in-favour of pre-washing your fabric how you intend to wash your finished garment.  

How to wash 185 linen

We recommend washing at 30 degrees with non-bio detergent. Boston Fall, Knapsack and Calamine are made using wash-out dyes, which means the colour will fade over time. We would recomend washing them separatly so the dye does not transfer onto other clothing.

How to dry 185 linen

Once washed, shake the cloth out and dry flat. Remember that linen will always seize up after washing, but as soon as you wear it the fibres will start to relax.

 

The Orton in Maud 185
The Workaday in Knapsack, Calamine & Silt Grey 185
The Ellis in Milk 185