I have a few lengths of linen in my stash that I've put off using because it has that stiffness typical of new linen. I want to make a shirt, but want it to have a softer feel, so I've been doing a bit of kitchen chemistry research recently, to see how I can get the result I want.
1st attempt - coca cola. Half a can, into the powder drawer. Works a treat on denim, but had no effect on the linen.
I went off to do a bit more research at this point as I know that it's the phosphoric acid in cola that softens things, so obviously bears no resemblance to whatever they use in the industrial softening process. It's cellulose and some pectin, mainly the former, that's responsible for the stiffness of linen and the enzymes that munch these are cellulase and pectinase, respectively.
Pectinase is easy to get hold of from any home brewing supplier, so I bought a couple of small tubs of these and put my fabric back into the wash with a tub of pectinase. It went onto a 40C wash with a soak and when done, it wasn't that much different. The surface of the fabric was a bit rougher, but the stiffness wasn't that much different.
I then ordered some cellulase off ebay. The suppliers were either in Denmark (expensive) or China (not so expensive) and so I ordered 2 x 50g of the enzyme from the Chinese supplier. It arrived in just over 2 weeks, so not too long a wait.
This afternoon, I put the linen back into the machine, onto a hot wash (70C) with a soak and 50g of cellulase in the drum with the fabric. In this hot weather, my 3m of fabric has dried pretty quickly and I'm delighted to report that it's a lot softer and more supple. It doesn't look like it's had seven bells knocked out of it, but it's much more pliable and I'm really pleased with the result.
For a softer finish, I don't know yet whether that would require a longer wash or soak or more enzyme. I'm confident from the information available that 70C is a good temperature for the reaction, so I can experiment with the other variables another time. For now, I now have 3m of soft fuchsia pink linen that's perfect for a new shirt.
My final comment is the reason I was spurred on to try this: the cost of enzyme washed linen fabric. Typically around the £20 per metre mark. The enzyme cost £8 for 100g (free P&p) and I can't remember the cost of the linen now, but I believe it was around £7 per metre. I used 50g of enzyme, so my softened linen comes out at about £10.30 per metre versus £20. A worthwhile experiment.
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