Peek A Boo at Jan's Project

Hi! This is Jan. Well, I've started working on my selvage project. I've never sewn with selvages before. I usually just cut them off and discard them. When I first got back into sewing a couple of years ago, I would throw them away. I had no idea people would actually make something out of selvages.

Like Joy, I'm not really sure what the right way is to sew with selvages. So, I just started sewing them together with no backing. And they seem really strong.

If I had known that I was going to sew with selvages, I would have cut them a little wider. I usually try to cut off only the selvage, which leaves them very thin when you're trying to sew with them. In the future, I'll have to remember to cut the selvages at least half an inch wider than I usually do. I need to cut of at least half an inch of the fabric with the selvage.

I'm not saying what I'm making, but here's a peek at what I've been working on.

A Peek at Joy's Project

Hi. This is Joy. I have started on my selvage project. It should be pretty fun, but I have a ton of selvages to go through. I usually just throw them in a pile and never think about them again. I have never made anything with selvages, but after seeing other finished projects, it's something I wanted to try. Now I'm wishing I had started with a plan when I started ripping or cutting off my selvages. Too late. First I have to iron the selvage strips and then sew them all together. Tedious, but interesting. Well, actually, first you need to choose which of the hundreds of selvages you want to work with. Are you going to use a certain color scheme or will it be random? Decisions, decisions. Since I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this selvage item for myself, I'm going random. Not using my absolute favorite fabric selvages, but not leaving them out on purpose. I'm including a picture of my selvage pile before I started choosing, and the second picture is of the selvages I'm going to be working with. I probably should research how to do this. Do I sew the selvages onto a piece of muslin or do I just sew them all to each other? Does it matter? Not sure. I'll just wing it and see how it goes.