My book Farm & Folk Quilt Alchemy contains a brief land and history acknowledgement in the opening statements on page 6, but here on the blog I have an opportunity to expand further. As a fiber artist, natural dyer, and farmer it’s important to me to take into consideration the history of the materials and plants that I work with. It is afterall, an understanding of these histories along with an understanding of the negative effects of the industrial agriculture system that have been my main driving forces in becoming a more conscientious consumer and producer. As consumers we have the opportunity to vote each time we spend and don’t spend our money. On a collective level consumers have power to challenge and uproot the systems that are in place. Change must begin from the roots (we are the roots!) and then it can work its way up to the top. The people must lead and the appointed leaders will have no choice but to follow. This post acknowledges fiber plant histories from ancient to modern times, and I will write a separate post to acknowledge some history regarding natural dyes that ensued as a result of European colonization. From these historical accounts we have an opportunity to learn from both the triumphs and shortcomings of the past, discover how they led us to the present, and take it all into consideration as we shape our future.

FIBER PLANTS & HUMANS

Humans have had an integral relationship with plant and animal derived fibers for tens of thousands of years. Our very existence depended upon them and still does although in the modern world we think more in terms of fashion than survival. The three fibers I mainly work with are hemp, cotton, and linen which are all cellulose (plant derived) fibers. In this post I will focus exclusively on them.

linen

An Irish family processing flax on their smallholding

Flax (linum usitatissimum) aka linen is believed to have originated in the region between the Mediterranean and India. In 2009 archeologists discovered naturally dyed samples of twisted flax fibers that had been woven into cloth, believed to be around 30,000 years old at Dzudzuana Cave in the Republic of Georgia. This evidence reveals that humans have not only had the knowledge to harvest, process, spin, and weave plant fibers into cloth, but also the knowledge and desire to make it beautiful through the alchemy of natural dyeing since at least the Upper Paleolithic period. Linen was used as clothing in ancient Egypt 10,000 years ago, as well as in ancient Rome and other Mediterranean civilizations. Eventually ancient Phoenicians began exporting it to Europe and Asia. In Medieval times Belgium, France, and the Netherlands became the major producers and exporters of it and linen remained the primary fiber produced in that region for hundreds of years. When Europeans began to colonize America, many colonists continued their flax growing tradition and grew small home plots of it to make homegrown, homespun clothing. By 1750 linen was being commercially produced until its decline in the early 19th century when cotton production took over during the Industrial Revolution.

BAST FIBERS

Both hemp and linen are bast fibers which means the fiber is derived from the stem of the plant. After harvesting, the stems must be retted (rotted) to dissolve the non-fiber tissues and substances and facilitate separation of the fiber from the stem. Retting can be done by either soaking the stems in water or by leaving them out in a dewy field. After retting, the stems are scutched, which basically means beaten, to separate the fibers from the woody core. Then it’s time to hackle which separates the fibers from each other by combing them apart. Once hackled the fibers are spun into thread and finally the thread can be woven into cloth.

HEMP

Until recently hemp (cannabis sativa) was thought to have originated in Central Asia but recent evidence has revealed that it came from Eastern Asia. In 2013 the oldest known hemp cloth remnant was discovered in ancient Mesopotamia dating to 8000 BCE. It’s estimated that eighty percent of all textiles and fabrics were made principally from cannabis fibers until the early 20th century. Humans were gathering hemp plants and making clothing from it before agriculture began, and it was one of the first plants ever to be cultivated. Fiber hemp remnants have been discovered in ancient Japan and Neolithic China, Europe, and Asia. By around 1200 BCE folks in China were making utilitarian objects such as rope, clothing, and shoes from hemp. There is evidence that cannabis was being used as medicine and for its psychotropic qualities since at least 4000 BCE. Through selective plant breeding people were able to develop two seperate hemp varieties, one for fiber and one for its medicinal and mind altering qualities.

By medieval times Europeans were cultivating fiber hemp and making ropes and sails for ships with it. Cannabis was introduced to North America around 1545 via Spanish colonization and in 1619 the English colony of Virginia passed a law requiring all farmers to grow it. In the mid 18th century George Washington raised fiber hemp amongst other crops on his Mount Vernon plantation which was maintained by 123 enslaved people of African descent whom he owned. In the state of Kentucky, many hemp plantations were sustained by the forced labor of enslaved people until the Civil War.

Enslaved men working on a hemp plantation in Kentucky

In 1937 America passed the Marihuana Tax Act which quickly put a halt to hemp production and unfortunately spiked a demand for paper pulp. Nearly one hundred years later we’re still cutting down trees for paper products rather than growing them from annual renewable hemp crops. In 1970 the US government passed the Controlled Substances Act which banned all cannabis production for good because of the psychotropic varieties. Thankfully the prohibition era is coming to an end. We still have a long way to go—especially in freeing people serving prison sentences for nonviolent cannabis charges—but cannabis is having a renaissance. Despite the rigorous regulations, licensure, and taxation we can now legally grow it again in most US states. Canada and China are currently the largest producers of fiber hemp, but US production can become possible if consumers spike a demand for it with our purchasing power. The more folks that show interest in hemp products (such as fabric) by purchasing it, the more opportunity there will be for fiber farms and processing mills to come back into production in the US (or wherever you live).

COTTON

Cotton (Gossypium) fiber is derived from the hairy seeds of the cotton plant and is native to both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. The seeds ripen in a pod called a boll. Upon maturity the hairy fibers are harvested and separated from the seeds, then combed, spun, and woven into fabric. Like the aforementioned fibers humans have a long relationship with this fiber. The oldest known cotton textile sample yet discovered is an indigo dyed piece of woven fabric found at a burial site in Peru estimated to date to 6200 BCE. This region is thought to be the earliest in the world to cultivate cotton. Folks in Mexico began cultivating it around 5500 BCE and in the Eastern Hemisphere in the kingdom of Kush it was being cultivated for cloth by 5000 BCE. In India and the Indus Valley cotton was being cultivated by at least 3000 BCE. When Alexander the Great invaded India in 327 BCE he and his troops took a liking to the fiber which they found to be more comfortable than wool. Cotton production was introduced to Europe during the Muslim conquest of Spain around 711 CE. The knowledge of cotton spinning and weaving soon spread all over Europe and by the Middle Ages it was a common fiber there.

People all over the world had been using cotton gins for centuries but in 1793 Eli Whitney modified the invention to make it more efficient. His modified gin sped up cotton processing time in the northern US mills by thirty times. This in turn opened a market for southern farmers to produce thirty times more cotton which shamefully led to the egregious tragedy that displaced, enslaved, and oppressed hundreds of thousands of Africans via the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Just a century later in India, Mahatma Gandhi led a cotton movement based instead upon freedom and liberation. Many rural communities were left severely impoverished as an effect of British colonization. As a solution Gandhi inspired community members to return to their nearly lost ancient traditions of full circle cotton production from seed to cloth. This revolutionary cloth kept the profit within local economies and thus ended their dependence on imported British cotton. This powerful act of resistance by way of self-reliance aided in ending British colonization in India. A profound example and reminder of the great power that can be found in the support of local economies, and also that consumers do actually have power to create cultural change when we act collectively. Gandhi called this revolutionary homegrown, homespun, handwoven cloth khadi and it’s still being produced by artisans in India today.

A cotton crop being sprayed with toxic chemicals that leach into the soil and waterways

Currently more organic cotton is being planted in the US than ever before due to consumer demands for big fashion brands to offer it, and also in the growing popularity of small sustainable fashion brands that offer it. Despite this, GMO and commercially grown cotton hugely outweighs the amount of organic cotton being produced. In 2023, 89% of cotton crops in the US were GMO and that’s not even including the percentage of crops that were non-GMO but commercially grown (with chemicals). By purchasing organically grown fabrics and goods, even if they’re imported, we create a demand for them. Creating a demand gives conventional farmers an opportunity to transition to organic growing methods. If we come together and collectively boycott GMO cotton fabric (and fast fashion and food etc!) by not purchasing it, we cast a big powerful vote against it, just as Gandhi demonstrated. These chemical laden fabrics that destroy soil and ecosystems will continue to be the norm as long as consumers continue to support them.

Consumers have choices and often the best choice is simply not to consume. It is absolutely possible to uproot, compost the dysfunctional systems that are currently in place, and replant a sustainable future. Prioritizing need over want is a very powerful place to begin. Many of the problems we face today stem from a lack of respect for land, ecosystems, resources and the many people who are in turn exploited to produce, process, or extract these resources. Wars are waged in an effort to expand territories and ultimately to gain control of its resources which are in turn processed into goods for societies to consume and profit on. Choosing to consume less and to make better choices when we do are hugely underrated acts of peaceful protest.