Selvage Quilt

This entire quilt is made from fabric selvages.

The selvage is the edge of the fabric, often white and usually with information about the fabric such as dots to show which colors were used in the print, the name of the pattern, designer, and/or manufacturer.  Usually the selvages are cut off and discarded.  For the past year or so, I have heard a lot about using the selvages to create projects. It seems to be all the rage and I have seen several articles on the subject.

Since I love scrap quilts, like to try new things and will try almost anything once, I started saving selvages. I loved the idea of being able to use every bit of a piece of fabric. As I finished sorting all of my scraps last week and saw how many selvages I had collected, I decided to create a project with them!

When I finished making the first twelve inch block, I decided I didn't like the look and declared that I would never make another selvage project!!! I removed the selvage bin from my scrap savers.

Since I had saved so many selvages and since I like to finish what I start, I decided to finish the quilt. I continued to sew selvages together.  I thought, at the very least, a finished project would be a good conversation piece.

I made twenty, twelve inch blocks by laying the selvage over the raw edge of the next piece so about 3/8" of the fabric design was visible and top stitching close to the edge. I then trimmed the piece in the back leaving about 1/4" from the stitching. I squared up each block (measure and cut so edges are even and blocks are a consistent size) to 12½" so the finished blocks are twelve inches.  When assembling the quilt top I alternated the blocks placing some vertically and the others horizontally. 

As I sewed more and more selvages together creating more and more blocks, it began to grow on me.  When I assembled the quilt top and saw the woven appearance, I decided it wasn't so bad!!!  I put the selvage bin back with my other scrap saver bins.

My sister is intrigued and is saving selvages to make 10" blocks.  My neighbor absolutely loves it and is now saving selvages to create her own quilt.  Yes,  I admit, I am saving selvages again and plan to make enough 6" blocks to create another quilt!

Happy Quilting,
Laurel