tow linen

English

Noun

tow linen

1. Linen produced from tow (the shorter flax fibers produced by the retting process), spun on small table wheels, then plied and twisted a second time with additional strands.
   • 1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 3, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC:

     The yearly allowance of clothing for the slaves on this plantation, consisted of two tow-linen shirts—such linen as the coarsest crash towels are made of

   • 1995, Daryl M. Hafter, European Women and Preindustrial Craft, →ISBN, page 34:

     The tow linen was the fiber of choice for making soft yarns for such end uses as undergarments, and for the making of thread.

   • 2007, Karla J. Nielson, Interior Textiles: Fabrics, Application, and Historic Style, →ISBN, page 41:

     A scutching machine pulls out the linen fibers, which are then hackled or carded and combed. Hackling separates the long line linen fibers from the shorter tow linen fibers.