antique hand woven fabric, primitive early 1800s homespun coarse flax linen bed sheet

This interesting piece came to us with a box full of antique textiles from a Century farm here in Wisconsin, originally settled before Wisconsin was even a state. The farm and the pieces we collected at it went back in the same family for about 150 years.

The hand written label we found on this piece says it all better than we could. "Part of a linen sheet, woven by... who died in 1839".

This seems right to us, we'd guess the age of this fabric at well over 100 years old, made during the earlier half of the 1800s.

And "Minnie" seems to have been a meticulous record keeper and spent great care in preserving family treasures for the coming generations. We'd like to think she'd be happy with us for saving this and sending it on to someone who will appreciate it for the next 150 years!

It's very browned, but feels soft, not dusty or brittle. The holes and runs are mostly near the selvages, though the fabric varies in the looseness of the weave. Measures 92" long x 38" wide.