BEETLED LINEN CUSHIONS – A PIECE OF TEXTILE HISTORY

We are delighted to introduce our new beetled linen cushions, now available to order in our shop.

Beetled linen may be a new term to many of you yet is a process we have been carrying out on linen in Upperlands for nearly 300 years and are the last company in the world performing this process on a commercial scale.

Beetled linen is a unique product that takes time to produce, each piece of this beautiful linen is on our beetling engines for over 120 hours taking almost an entire month to produce, carefully watched over by our master craftsman,.

The process involves linen fabric being wrapped round a wooden beam where it is then pounded with beetling hammers. Over the course of production this flattens the fibres giving a very uniform appearance, and gradually gaining a high sheen creating a luxurious looking finish. For centuries this has been a popular fabric with tailor’s, predominantly used in seam reinforcement due to the strength of the linen fibre combined with the unique flatness making it virtually invisible inside garments. With such a beautiful finish it is time for beetled linen to step out and be appreciated for it’s beautiful sheen and unique characteristics.

This lustrous finish is delicate and needs cared for. Behaving similarly to raw silk beetled linen will mark when it gets wet or draws in moisture, leaving pooled marks only adding to the beautiful character of this cloth. The more the fabric is used the more interesting it will become. Following care instructions is essential, this requires the most delicate of dry cleaning to retain its character sheen.