Cotton or Linen thread?

[vbetts]

Florence Montgomery

Florence Montgomery is the author of _Textiles in America, 1650-1870_. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1984.

Vicki Betts
vbetts@gower.net

[va-yank]

Re: Cotton or Linen thread?

"Assuming, Fred, that when you ask whether linen or cotton thread was used to 'sew an issue shirt' you are referring to a Federal issue, domet flannel shirt, the availability/nonavailability of linen in the CSA has no bearing on your question."

Right, the question was not concerned with availability of cotton vs linen thread in the CSA. Given some of the statements made, for instance that there were mills manufacturing linen thread in the north, linen thread could have been available there. To restate the question then, does linen thread appear in army issue garments of northern manufacture? And is it easy to distinguish cotton thread from linen thread when examining surviving examples?

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Cotton or Linen thread?

Hallo Kameraden!

"To restate the question then, does linen thread appear in army issue garments of northern manufacture? And is it easy to distinguish cotton thread from linen thread when examining surviving examples?"

1. The U.S. Quartermaster Manual specifies No. 30, 35, and 40 "weight" linen thread in the various clothing descriptions. Chris Sullivan did a study of
Quartermaster contracts and orders for linen thread, but I have never seen it published. It appears at times, that cotton thread was substituted for linen at times. Nick ************'s website previously had a brief article on cotton thread entitled "A Bump on the Logwood" that spoke about cotton thread.

2. I am not good enough to determine linen versus cotton thread by eye-sight without using a microscope to look at the fiber structure- band-like for cotton and more smooth for linen. In general though, linen fibers tend to catch the light a bit better and have a slight sheen than unmercerized cotton, and is a bit more "stretchier" than cotton.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

[tmdreb]

Linen used in CS clothing production

From Capt. Wharton's CSR (QM of the Houston Depot) we find the following statement from 1864: "The materials used in this shop have been...Lindseys...Linen...Flax Thread, Silk Thread, Spool Cotton, coarse Cotton Thread..." He goes on to state that this "Flax Thread" was used for both the jackets and trowsers his shop was making. Wharton makes it quite clear that he is describing what had already been made at the depot.

When I get around to making my repro of a Houston Depot jacket, it will be sewn with linen thread.

[va-yank]

Re: Cotton or Linen thread?

Kurt,

Thanks as always, for the courteous and informative reply. I will also look in a couple of the volumes I have, Report to the Secy of War, etc to see how and what type of thread was listed for what periods/locations.

Of course this doesn't help our Confederate friends any.

There seem to be three questions here,

What was available and where?
Is there a real modern equivalent available to us today?
Why use linen thread vs. using cotton, given that both are available?

This topic must be well represented in the AC archives, and hopefully that information will be available to us again. Although I for one really don't mind seeing questions revisited and answers revised.

[Yellowhammer]

Re: Cotton or Linen thread?

Mary,

You state, "My point is only that it can't be logically derived from the evidence of lack of manufacture that items weren't commonly available."

The lack of manufacture, combined with the lack of importation, created shortages very quickly.

Karin's post explains it much better so there is no need for me to restate her argument.

[Bill Cross]

Re: Cotton or Linen thread?

I still feel as if this useful and interesting discussion has not made a clear distinction between linen thread and linen fabric. While it is clear to me that linen fabric would have disappeared in the South by mid-war for all except the wealthy who could patronize blockade runner imports, I've seen no evidence that the thread used was all imported. Was linen thread imported? I'm sure it was, but here is evidence of domestic linen THREAD production in the form of a spinning wheel from the Revolutionary period.

http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/collection/itempage.jsp?itemid=5959

While difficult to make, linen thread seems like something that could have been produced on the home front. I'd like to know if Virginia Mescher has any stats on linen thread from her research into dry goods of the period.

Here are other references to linen THREAD's widespread availability:

http://discoversd.tie.net/continuing/resources/daughter/clay/junker.html

http://www.uppercanadavillage.com/tour17.htm

A detailed history of Irish production of flax is found in:

http://www.longfordroots.com/History/h15.html

A contrarian point of view is contained in:

http://www.globalhemp.com/Archives/Essays/Fiber/fiber_wars2.html

which states that cotton has superceded linen by 1850 and that domestic American production had pretty much ceased. This doesn't tell us whether it may have gone on in the South during the war as a supplement to cotton thread, or whether the Federal regulations for issue shirts that specified linen thread were (a.) throwbacks, as much of the regulations are, to an outmoded technology that were ignored by contractors and suppliers; or (b.) faithful indications of the preferred thread used to make these ubiquitous garments.

For those who want to learn about flax processing, I also ran across this very interesting web site:

http://www.ealdormere.sca.org/university/flaxspinning.shtml

[vbetts]

Flax and Linen in the 1860 Ag & Manuf. Census

Just to add a little background to the linen discussion--

Flax Production in Southern States--1860
Alabama--111 lbs.
Arkansas--3,821 lbs.
Florida--0 lbs.
Georgia--3,303 lbs.
Kentucky--728,234 lbs.
Louisiana--0 lbs.
Mississippi--50 lbs.
Missouri--109,837 lbs.
North Carolina--216,490 lbs.
South Carolina--344 lbs.
Tennessee--164,294 lbs.
Texas--115 lbs.
Virginia--4,487,808 lbs.

Agriculture of the United States in 1860; Compiled from the Original REturns of the Eighth Census..., p. xc-xcii

The amount of flax produced in the States and Territories in 1850 was 7,709,676 pounds, and in 1860 4,720,145 pounds. In other words, the production of flax has fallen off almost one half since 1850.

Since the commencement of the war flax culture has received increased attention, owing to the scarcity of cotton [this is a Northern publication], and it is not improbable that, were the census taken now, it would be found that the flax crop was at least as great as in 1850. The climate of the northern States is admirably adapted to the growth of flax, and all that is needed to make it a highly remunerative crop is the introduction of machines for dressing the fibre and preparing it for the market. Great improvements have recently taken place in the machines for this purpose, and there can be no doubt that flax will be much more extensively cultivated. . . .

The production of flax in the southern States has fallen off more than one-half since 1850. Virginia is the principal flax-producing State in the south. She raises more flax than all the other southern States. The amount of flax raised in Virginia has fallen off from one million pounds in 1850, to less than half a million pounds in 1860. North Carolina and Tennessee are the only other southern States in which flax is grown to any extent. . . .

In 1850 there was less than five and a half ounces of flax raised in the whole States and Territories to each inhabitant, and in 1860 less than two and a half ounces to each person....The southern States produced produced over four ounces in 1850 to each person, and only 1.52 ounces in 1860.

As we have before remarked, there can be but little doubt that since the census was taken, there has been considerable increase in the growth of flax; but making full allowance for this probable increase the production of flax in the United States, with a climate admirably adapted for its growth, is exceedingly small. The principal cause of this is doubtless owing to the high price of labor, which renders the preparation of the crop more expensive than it is in other countries from which our imports of flax are derived. If the machines recently introduced for dressing flax shall prove as efficient as present experience indicates, the production of flax, stimulated by the high price of cotton, will greatly increase.

Manufactures of the United States in 1860; compiled from the Original Returns of the Eighth Census.
p.ciii
With the exception of cordage, the manufactures of hemp and linen in the United States have never been general or extensive. At present they are confined chiefly to two States, and to the production of a very limited number of products. In 1860 this industry employed, in the two States of Massachusetts and New York, ten establishments, having an aggregate capital of $639,795, and 528 hands, of whom 277 were females. The total cost of labor was $113,048, and of material, $327,770 per annum. The latter sum embraced the value of 998 tons of flax used, from which were manufactured woven goods, twines, and thread, to the value of $699,570. ... [In Massachusetts], the American Linen Company, at Fall River, which was the largest [in the state], ran 4,000 spindles and 200 looms by steamppower, producing, from 350 tons of hemp and flax, 4,000,000 yards of crash, &c., worth $300,000. This product was exclusive of some twine and shoe thread made in the State from flax, tow, and Manilla hemp, which is included in the statistics of cordage. The linen mills of New York numbered seven, and were of smaller extent...consumed 303 tons of flax, from which were manufactured goods valued at $184,570. The products included 518,000 pounds of sewing thread, twine, and shoe thread. One establishment, the American Linen Thread Company, made 160,000 pounds of linen thread, valued at $80,000, an average of fifty cents a pound. It employed 50 male hands and 60 females.

The cultivation of flax in the United States for the sake of its fibre is much less general than formerly. With the increase of the cotton culture and manufacture, and the improvements in cotton and woollen machinery, cotton has been extensively substituted for flax and hemp even in household manufactures, which have generally been abandoned for the products of regular factories, either domestic or foreign. Large areas of some of the western and middle States are still devoted to the cultivation of flax for the production of oil from the seed, which has made it a remunerative crop. . . .

Since the taking of the census, and particularly during the late war, the home production of flax has probably been increased, as its manufacture undoubtedly has been, and will be still further increased by reason of improvements in flax-dressing machinery, and in the various processes by which its filament has been assimilated to that of cotton, so as to be spun on cotton machinery, either unaltered or slightly modified....

In 1860, the value of flax imported in the unmanufactured state, duty free, was $213,687, and in 1862 it was $175,870, or about the same as in 1852; for less than half the quantity imported in that year, or 1,421,628 pounds, entered at a duty of $15 per ton. ... In 1860, the value of linens imported was $9,245,816; and of all other manufactures of flax, $1,490,519; the duty on which was about 15 per cent. ad valorem. In 1862, 15,456,358 yards of linen, valued at $2,894,314, and other manufactures of flax to the value of $3,173,672, were imported, the latter sum including thread and twine valued at $876,057. ...

The American Linen Thread Company, at Mechanicsville, New York, exhibited their patent thread [in 1855], said to be equal to any imported. Shoe thread and sewing twine are now made extensively at Andover, Massachusetts, where 650 tons of flax and tow, chiefly imported, are annually used; American flax being used for coarse yarns chiefly.

Vicki Betts
vbetts@gower.net

[va-yank]

Re: Cotton or Linen thread?

In the Report to the Secretary of War, 1865 (that is fiscal year 1865).

Among the items routinely listed for various depots is thread, measured in pounds or balls. Silk for sewing is listed separately. In one instance thread is listed as "Thread, assorted" in one row, and below it "Thread, silk". Several other entries for other depots are written as "Thread, shoe".

There is no specific mention of linen thread that I have found. The book is 890 pages, and I may have missed something.

Still not sure when its suitable to linen thread and when not to linen thread, even though its been a great discussion.

[Spinster]

Re: Cotton or Linen thread?

Question: Does the cotton boll have shorter fibers than the flax plant? Therein would seem to be the making of which is optimally stronger.[/QUOTE]

Cotton does have signficantly shorter fibers than flax--even the hi-bred Egyptian cotton in use today is at best a 2-3 inches long, while some cottons are under an inch.

Flax fibers, on the other hand, can exceed a foot in length. When one sees a spinning wheel pictured with what looks like a very small haystack on a stick, that is a 'dressed' strick of linen--long fibers bundled and ready to spin. The spinning effort usually results in an appearance as if one has rolled in spider webs.

While linen can be exceptionally strong, it also requires special handling when working. One can spin 'line' (the long fibers) or 'tow' (the short broken fibers). Line produces a more lusterous and stronger thread, tow, a rough thread. Either way its a pain--not only do the fibers cut the hands, but one must have a small bowl of water handy and constantly dampen the fibers while spinning, and later on keep them damp while weaving to lessen breakage. As a reward for my efforts, I get cut, raw, chapped, hands, and fabric that is fine, but there is precious little of it. If I had to make my clothing out of linen I made, :o well, I wouldn't be sufficiently covered.

Cotton, with its short fibers, requires a very high twist to hold it together. While it doesn't require wetting while spinning, I have to be careful not to get a lungfull of the short fibers which rapidly become airborne. I also have to pay attention, for it breaks and lumps easily--I don't spin cotton in public, because I can't keep my religion while doing do.

Its a shame that wool doesn't make good sewing thread. Just about any creature with a oposable thumb can spin wool--long enough fibers, but not too long, and just enough grease in the fiber to keep it from cutting skin.