From The Evergreen Magazine article and photos by Shauna Bittle: 

Katie Allen ’19 holds a bundle of flax fibers in one hand. In the other, she holds a simple drop spindle that resembles a child’s wooden top with an elongated stem. She overlaps the long fibers with the tight strands already formed, and gives the spindle a whirl. The action twists them into a growing bundle of yarn. In the moment of transformation, the raw material takes on a new name: linen.

Allen is in the late stages of a Student-Originated Studies (S.O.S.) project titled Sustainability in Fashion: Flax to Linen. Her work began in April with a half-pound bag of seed that she sowed on Evergreen’s Organic Farm. The seed grew into long, bright green stalks with vivid blue flowers. After harvesting, she treated the plants with water to dissolve the outer cellular layer. In late summer, she beat the dried flax to remove the husk, and was left with bundles of shimmering fibers to turn into cloth.  (Text and photos by Shauna Bittle)