Squiltz

Selvedges and First Words

A selvedge is the non-fraying edge on the side of fabric.  One side usually has a theme name; the name of the designer; the fabric manufacturer; colour dots and perhaps a date.

In the past selvedges were woven more tightly than the rest of the fabric so it was necessary to remove and discard them so they didn’t cause distortion of seams. However, I have noticed in the last few years that the quality of selvedges on 100% cotton quilting fabrics has improved and the names can be quite delightful.

The first selvedge quilt I made was simply a collection of interesting wordings.  The design was simple and the colours placed randomly.   

My aim: to display interesting selvedge wording in a quilt

Challenges:

• uncertainty about whether selvedges would shrink with washing of  quilt
• wording appears very close to non-fraying edge so no possibility of enclosing this edge in a conventional seam
• getting edges to sit flat
• fabrics have varying lengths of wording

Process:

• Whenever I bought a new fabric, I cut off a strip [the side with the name and details] at least 2½inch wide and added it to my collection
• I wet several selvedges and ironed them on high heat – no apparent shrinkage
• a simple strip piecing design was chosen and the strips cut to length ensuring the best use was made of the wording
• I used a *quilt as you row* method
• the non-fraying edges were placed over the raw edges of other selvedge strips
• the non-fraying edges were topstitched onto the next strip with a line of straight stitching above the wording and a zig-zag type stitch on the very edge

Outcome:

It is worth keeping selvedges to use in projects.
While you have fun collecting them you will also
learn about different designers and fabric manufacturers.

 

 

 

 

Next chapter: Sorting Selvedges.