If you read German, I can recommend "Die Nürnberger Tuchmacher, Weber, Färber und Bereiter vom 14. bis 17. Jahrhundert" by Hironobu Sakuma.
I just looked into the book regarding the lengths of linen cloths. When it says linen "pieces" there, the author means pieces of "60 ells" length (1 ell is around 65 cm, so 1 "piece" would have roughly 40 metres). In other parts of the book, linen pieces often are 100 ells long. Several qualities of linen seem to have had different standard lengths (at least in 1535, lengths ranged from 18 ells to 72 ells, depending on quality). (Interesting side info: since cloth often had to be controlled by sworn officials before it could be sold, linen cloth that did not pass control because it was too low quality would be cut up into lengths of 5 to 10 ells each, so it could not be sold as easily.)
I did not find any info about who would sell the readymade lengths of fabric, but I think that it would not be cut into smaller pieces unless necessary. So if it was sold to consumers who bought the length they could afford (only the wealthier consumers could afford to buy a complete piece for their household storage), the desired length would certainly be cut from the remaining piece. (One should however not forget that probably a lot of people would not just buy linen cloth, but supplied the homespun linen yarn to the weavers in order to have it woven for them - so a sale in a shop-like setting would not have happened.)
no subject
I just looked into the book regarding the lengths of linen cloths. When it says linen "pieces" there, the author means pieces of "60 ells" length (1 ell is around 65 cm, so 1 "piece" would have roughly 40 metres). In other parts of the book, linen pieces often are 100 ells long. Several qualities of linen seem to have had different standard lengths (at least in 1535, lengths ranged from 18 ells to 72 ells, depending on quality).
(Interesting side info: since cloth often had to be controlled by sworn officials before it could be sold, linen cloth that did not pass control because it was too low quality would be cut up into lengths of 5 to 10 ells each, so it could not be sold as easily.)
I did not find any info about who would sell the readymade lengths of fabric, but I think that it would not be cut into smaller pieces unless necessary. So if it was sold to consumers who bought the length they could afford (only the wealthier consumers could afford to buy a complete piece for their household storage), the desired length would certainly be cut from the remaining piece.
(One should however not forget that probably a lot of people would not just buy linen cloth, but supplied the homespun linen yarn to the weavers in order to have it woven for them - so a sale in a shop-like setting would not have happened.)
Greetings, Gea