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Bunny’s Linen Basics

The linen that we offer is imported from Belgium.  Here are Bunny’s notes about it:

I’ve been purchasing the same weight linen from the same manufacturer for 25 years.  Every few years, I do a review of the various linens that are ‘out there’.  I have always come back to the linen I’m offering here.  This linen is the perfect weight, density and quality for our altar cloths, altar linens, credence tablecloths, tabernacle hangings – for all liturgical purposes that require the use of good linen.

I recently began offering a very heavy-weight linen (luscious!) to use as under-cloths.  It is more than 3 times heavier. And a note about linen weight — remember as you compare new linen to the linens in your sacristy, elderly linens become sheer over time. They were heavier when they were new.

Purchasing linen can be difficult there are so many coptions and most people do not have the information they need in order to make such an important choice.  

Linen has three characteristics that should be of interest to you: quality, weight and density. These characteristics help you evaluate the suitability of a particular linen for your altar linens.

~ Quality is judged by the even-ness of the threads and of the weave, the amount of weft distortion, selvage regularity, the type and amount of sizing, and the ease of drawing a thread.
~ Weight is measured in ounces per square yard.
~ Density is determined by the number of threads per square inch.

Quality is not determined by weight.  Linen of substantial weight may be very high quality.  Linen that is sheer may be of low quality.

Weight and density are related characteristics.  The weight of my linen is 4.6 ounces per square yard.  The density of my linen is 116 threads per square inch (both warp and weft).  Here’s the strange thing:  Weight and density are BASIC linen information and – this information is almost never given to the customer!  And yet, this should be the first information you get.  You should be able to say, “I want to see linen that is about 4.6/116.”  Anybody who knows anything about linen should know instantly what you want – and show it to you.  After you have that information, you must decide about quality.

Let me prove to you how useful these numbers are to you:  My linen is 4.6/116.  The numbers for my new heavy linen are 14.7/40.  With just this small bit of information I’ve given you, you know instantly a great deal about my heavy linen!

Note: Batiste (sometimes called handkerchief linen) isn’t just lighter in weight because its threads are slimmer; the weave is less dense.  (‘Batiste’ is the name we give to sheer linen. ‘Cambric’ is the name we give to sheer cotton.)