What the Heck is a Bast Fiber?

Last week someone asked me an interesting question about the nature of bast fibers. "Just what are they anyway?" they asked. Here is a brief description.

Unlike cotton which is a wool-like fibre mass around a seed, bast fibers are part of a plant stem. Plant to retain water have an outer bark. Inside they have a layer which conducts water up and down the plant stem and then most have a pith inside which gives the plant an upright appearance.

The bast fibers are the second layer in a plant. Over the centuries people have found that some plants shed their outer bark and pith more easily than others, thus leaving the flexible inner layer. This layer was most likely used at first for basketry and cordage but was later used for cloth. The most familiar bast fiber now used for textiles is flax, but many others exist. Hemp, nettles, ramie (china grass), and jute are all bast fibers -- fibers from the stem of plants.

The process of obtaining the fibers is basically the same. The plants are cut or pulled and then rotted somewhat to loosen the layers of material in the stem. Then the partially rotted plant is dried. The dried plants are "hackled" or pounded to remove the outer bark and separate the more woody pith. Then the mass is combed to remove any remaining pith, broken fibers, and outer bark. The result is a nice mass of long combed fibers which can be spun into yarn or twine depending on the anticipated use.

While labor intensive with the advent of machine processing bast fiber production has become very commercial. In addition it is more eco-friendly than the production of artificial fibers which are petroleum based.

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