In olden days people were making their own goods at home. This is the way they used to make them. First of all the flax was set and when ripe it was pulled and bound into sheaves. The sheaves were put into a pond of water and left there for some weeks until they softened, "bogging" it was called. Then it was taken out of the hole and laid out evenly on the ground to bleach it. It was then "haggled" to take what they called the toe out of it with a cloving tongs.