Super light weight linen is a miracle.

Once I had a shift in linen light enough it all made sense to me. I didn’t get stinky, and I didn’t feel stinky. I would sweat but air movement would cool me off. The real wake up was when I put a T-shirt on later and felt sticky, stifled and so much hotter immediately. 

As an experiment I highly recommend making a shift/shirt/something out of a linen at about 3.5 oz this summer and test it yourself. I made my first one out of a light pink linen because I got it cheap on ebay. As a social experiment it was just fascinating what a difference it made! 

Now, I have 5 or so linen shifts and I wear them all the time. I wear them as nightshirts and it helps me feel comfortable all night. They have elbow length sleeves and are knee length. Not too revealing for a first-thing-in-the-morning wander through the house for a cup of tea.

As the weather warms up I will also exchange my work clothes for a shift if it is hot and humid. I have one in a mulberry color that I kinda morphed into a sundress for wearing during the day.

The weight of the fabric makes a huge difference

The linen you will find in a fabric store, or online is generally a medium weight. It is perfect for skirts, jackets, tablecloths, bedding, curtains, and the list goes on. This is not the linen I am talking about for wearing as a shift.

For a shift you want handkerchief weight, lightweight fabric. Usually it is a bit sheer. Yes, it is expensive.

How to find linen cheaper

I am all about hacks to make things on the cheap. I make my winter shifts and shirts out of top quality thrift store sheets. I make linen shifts out of pastel color linen I get online.

Linen in pink, yellow, light green, tan and other light colors can be found at half the price per yard as white. I then add a full cup of household beach to a wash or two in hot water. The result is a white/ivory/pale linen fabric ready to use. If all the color doesn’t come out I try again. It has always worked so far. Maybe it breaks down the fibers in the fabric a bit, but my shifts have been machine washed weekly for a couple of years now and just get softer.

It works so well and the lightweight stuff is so nice that I have a pile of 15 yards of bleached white linen in a medium weight that I have not used because I prefer the light stuff even it is isn’t perfectly white. Nobody holds a piece of printer paper up to my shirt to check.

A note on poshness

Looking at portraits, the wealthiest people would have had the lightest, the most perfectly white, and the most tightly woven linen fabric imaginable. That fabric was costly then, as it is now. The trick that was used then was to make the collar, ruffles and cuffs out of the absolute best fabric, and the rest of the garment out of lower. This led to collars becoming separate pieces as well.

This trick is still in practice. The back of men’s vests is usually made out of lining fabric, a two layer women’s sweater will have the underlayer out of a cheap fabric and a pretty lace where it will show.

I challenge you

Find a lightweight linen fabric for the cheap and make a shift. Make sure it is 100% linen, and make sure it is light weight. This first one could be any color or pattern. Make it and wear it and I’d love to know what you think!