A particular type of flax is grown to long stalks that then have to be stripped of the pectin that holds the fibres together. This is achieved by a combination of washing and crushing the stalks through a series of wooden beams that physically flog the stalks into thin fibres. Once the pectin has been removed, the flax can then be spun, woven and then bleached. With technology of today a white linen can be achieved, but for early manufacture this was very difficult, and so linen was always off-white or beige in colour.
The process is quite intricate. The stalks are grown to about a metre high, and are similar to bast fibres, that run the length of the stalk.The fibres are normally released from the woody stem by retting (rotting), which today takes place when the harvested flax is left to rot for a while in the open fields. Traditionally it was done in rivers, ponds or retting dams.
To process flax by hand is quite arduous and requires great skill at all stages. This link gives a visual insight about the historical production. The nice thing about linen production is that nothing of the flax is wasted, since the seed (linseed) is used for a number of other things and the bark is used for chipboard.
After removing the bark (scutching), the fibres are combed (heckled) to separate the shorter and longer fibres from each other. There is quite an insightful video on Wikipedia that gives a brief summary of the above process.
After achieving the necessary softness of the fibres, they are spun. The two lengths are spun differently, the long ones are wet-spun and the shorter ones are dry-spun. After spinning the yarns are ready to be woven. If this process was done by hand, there would be several steps, as can be seen form the picture below. In Ireland this process was mechanised and some of these machines today still perform as in days of old.
The fabric, after weaving will be treated according to customer requirements, and can include bleaching, dyeing, coating, bonding, printing, texturising and calandering to name a few.
For information on Irish linen, follow this link
So far the modern version....
Linen is older than any other cloth and in ancient Egypt was considered the cloth of kings. Even still during the time of the Israelite kingdoms, it was considered expensive and luxurious. The pharaohs were mummified with roughly 1000 yards (914.4 metres). In Egypt the fabric that was produced could be extremely delicate, 
even more delicate than some fabrics today, even with mechanised processes. For further information read here
Most probably the most famous piece of linen is the Shroud of Turin, believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus.
Coming to the crux: if the process of producing linen today is this expensive, with all the machinery that is availbale to us, imagine what it would have cost a women of the first century to produce a linen garement. It therefore is amazing that in Revelation, white (!) linen garments will be handed out to all the saints. Because we will be part of the royal family.
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