Linen is one of my favourite natural fibres and a linen knit is a rare thing. Linen is made from the flax plant, not grown commercially in Australia, and arguably the world’s oldest fibre.

It is cool to wear, becomes softer with age and you can tell something is linen from the way it crinkles after washing. I never iron it because I love the crushed look of 100% linen.

Flax is grown in Europe and apparently world demand for flax peaked in 2005 at 709,000 tons and suffered demand destruction of 123,000 tons in 2006. It recovered to 705,000 tons in 2009 and declined again in 2010 to 682,000 tons. FAO textile consumption survey 2013

This garment was a long top but the sleeves were too tight relative to the body of the garment so I cropped them off and just used zigzag stitch to secure the raw edge.

I extended the length to become a dress using linen fabric which I gathered up and then doubled over before stitching to the bottom of the top. I knotted the sleeve off-cuts to a strip of linen fabric to form a scarf, which is doubled over and draped around the neckline as a collar.