Today I'm talking about one of my favorite things—selvage! Even in my early sewing days, when I didn't think much about saving extra fabric, which I talked about in my scrap-busting introduction, I did save selvage because I found it so beautiful. There is something so special about it, so genuine and unique in it's unruly-ness. Often I find it more beautiful than the fabric it's attached to, and it seems a shame something so beautiful would go unused. So, I started cutting it off into long strips and bagging it up, saving it for something special. Sometimes I like to use selvage on the hem of a garment like on my Array Shirt Dress Hack, but much of the time, my selvage collection continues to grow and sit unused. 

I usually store my selvage collection, and it truly is a collection, in a plastic bag in my sewing room closet with the rest of my trims. Because it's stored out of sight, I often forget that it exists. A long time ago, when I first started sewing, I stored my selvage in a glass jar on my sewing table. I loved the way it looked sitting there. But one day, to make a clean space of my sewing table, I gathered it all up in a bag and put it into the closet where it's been for years. What I'm realizing is that this little collection needs to be out somewhere stored decoratively like it used to be, so that it's not forgotten and can get used up. 

After I finished the Native Coasters in my last post, I remembered that I had the perfect selvage to go along with them. It came from a gorgeous warm brown slub linen, and I thought it would look beautiful paired with the coasters. One of the simplest ways to use selvage, and one that I often forget, is as a string to tie up packages and decorate presents like this. 

I asked my followers on Instagram recently if they had any ideas for using up the little stringy pieces. Some of my favorite suggestions included weaving them into a rag rug, bag or wall hanging; crocheting them into a bath mat; using them to reinforce shoulder seams in garments; using them as stuffing for dolls. On my list of things to try with selvage is crocheting them into a coaster! Do you have any creative suggestions for using pretty selvage? I'd love to hear them! - Emily