Flax and hemp stalks were the raw material for peasant clothing, bed linen and tablecloths. The first step in the preparation of textiles was to prepare the soil for the cultivation of plants that provided the fibres. Fields had to be ploughed in the autumn, the soil loosened in early spring and the surface levelled. After that, one had to sow the flax and wait for it to grow (and weed the fields during that time). The harvest started about one hundred and thirty days later, when the flax stopped flowering. The harvested stalks had to rest for 24 hours and then, arranged in ‘canopies’, dry for several days. When they had hardened, they were threshed so that the grain would spill out (for oil and the next sowing), then tied again and soaked for a few weeks. Soaked flax had to be dried and rested, preferably in the sun, to allow it to brighten. Afterwards, twigs had to be broken using a swingle and a heckle until the fibres separated. Combing took place two or three weeks after swingling. A heckle was used to comb out the tangles or residues of dried branches. The entire process from the sowing to the acquisition of pure fibre could last from one hundred and fifty to two hundred days. Then, the fibres still had to be spun into a yarn and woven into a fabric. Another way to obtain yarn was to spin it out of sheep fleece.