Full Breakdown
Vermont Gardener Sews a Dress From Her Own Flax
8/29/2026, 9:13:30 PM
Growing a Dress from Seed to Loom
Eve Ogden Schaub began a project in April 2025 to turn a 600-square-foot vegetable garden in Vermont into a flax field. After harvesting the first crop, she sowed a second and is now processing the fibers herself. The steps she follows—retting (a natural decomposition), breaking, scutching, hackling, spinning, and eventually dyeing the yarn with indigo she is also growing—mirror historic linen production. Once the linen yarn is ready, Schaub plans to weave it on a large loom and cut a garment based on historical dress patterns, working with an experienced friend for the final sewing.
From Fast Fashion to Slow Fashion
Schaub says the project arose from a desire to find “the slowest fashion imaginable” as a counterpoint to today’s fast-fashion model, which she describes as an environmental and health catastrophe. She notes that cheap, quickly produced garments often end up in landfills in Ghana and that workers in Indian recycling factories suffer lung disease. By growing and processing her own fabric, she hopes to highlight the hidden costs of the current system.
The Hands-On Process
The gardener-turned-maker describes each stage as a learning curve. Retting the flax in the garden’s soil, she then breaks and scutches the fibers before hackling them into a usable strand. Spinning the yarn proves challenging, and she admits to frequent mistakes captured in her Instagram videos. She is also cultivating indigo plants for natural dyeing, though she has not yet reached that stage. The final weaving will occur on a loom comparable in size to those used in traditional textile workshops.
Implications for Sustainability and Consumer Values
Schaub argues that the experiment underscores the value of creativity and the benefits of making rather than consuming. She points to the historical scarcity of clothing—when garments were expensive and labor-intensive—to question whether modern consumers truly prefer cheap, disposable apparel. The project also draws attention to low wages and poor treatment of garment workers worldwide.
Public Reception and Next Steps
Followers of Schaub’s social-media updates report a newfound appreciation for the effort behind clothing, with many commenting that they now understand why historic garments were prized. Schaub says the experience has shifted her own preferences away from department-store apparel toward repairing existing items. She intends to complete the linen dress with her friend’s assistance, using the historical pattern as a template for the final piece.
