!!!Leinen

Linen: Until the 18%%sup th/%  and early 19%%sup th/%  centuries, 
linen fabrics for bed and table linens and simple clothing were 
produced in homes as a secondary occupation. In addition to Bohemia, 
Moravia, and Silesia, the Muehlviertel region of Austria was a major 
area of linen production, with centres in Freistadt and six other 
market guilds. After the abolition of the Continental system, flax 
spinning and linen weaving, which were still done by hand in the early 
19%%sup th/%  century, came under massive pressure of competition from 
cotton fabrics, in reaction to which Italian wholesalers built the 
first canvas factories in Austria: Vonwiller in Haslach in 1833 and 
Simonetta in Helfenberg in 1843. A mechanical flax-spinning mill was 
established in Lambach in 1852.

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The production of bed and table linens and fine linen garments as a 
second occupation for farmers and as home weaving has been maintained 
to some extent in the Muehlviertel and Waldviertel regions until the 
present.

!Literature
C. Halmdienst, Die Entwicklung der Leinenindustrie in 
Oberoesterreich, 1993.


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