Full color, large format 8.5 x 11", 495 photographs, 91 drawings/drafts/charted designs. Nine chapters include maps and regional dress; colorful research adventure; flax tools and faces from archival photographs; textile images and patterns; a gallery of 24 textile people and their work; charted folk designs for weaving and needlework; nine projects beginner to advanced; six contemporary projects; linen workshop: grow it, spin it, weave it. Annotated bibliography, glossary, index.

If you enjoy looking at colorful patterned cloth, if you like adventure-travel stories, if history and old tools and photographs interest you, if you like meeting people who are devoted to their textile heritage, if dolls charm you, if you'd like to learn an ancient and simple way to weave interesting patterns on a narrow band, if you are curious about the process of making cloth to wear yourself or to give as a gift, if you are interested in flax and linen, if you are looking for easy and effective ways to deal with linen's or other fine fiber's orneriness, then you will probably enjoy reading A Flaxen Past. Publication of A Flaxen Past is made possible with assistance from The Lithuanian Foundation, the Lithuanian Folk Art Institute, the Gilmore Foundation and the Upjohn Foundation. All profits from the sale of the book are dedicated to the textile collections in Lithuanian museums.