I just watched a store employee cut yardage. The print was such that you could tell it was not straight, but that's the way the fabric was on the bolt so she cut it.

Getting fabric like that makes me rip off the selvedge. At least then I know where the grain is on the fabric.

The fabric being cut could have been misprinted, or the winding on the bolt was wrong. Ripping lets you know.

I've lost up to 4 inches on one end of fabric by fabric not being wound on bolt right. If the bolt is wrong, the store can't rewind it, and if you cut by the design, the cuts don't look straight.

I don't use the dots. I'll bring a piece of fabric to match.

I wouldn't put a "length of fabric" piece in a binding with the selvedge on. The selvedge is actually stronger and a little thicker than the rest. But it will definitely shrink at a different rate. If fabric is washed with the selvedge on, you can easily see the slight puckering between the selvedge and the rest of the fabric.

I often leave the selvedges on when I cut WOF strips. When they are sewn with the 45º angle and trimmed (I line up the fabrics with no plus-sign pieces sticking out), there is about one molecule of selvedge still on the tips of each strip. And that molecule is in the seam allowance and won't be seen nor noticed. I even leave the white part on if it's not too wide. When it is folded and stitch, nothing shows.

I don't know why you wouldn't remove the selvedges.

I never remove salvages before I cut pieces/strips. I wait until I'm cutting, then I remove them as I go. I always cut WOF and then trim selvages from just that part.

Since I prewash, I do rarely get a selvage that will shrink more than the fabric. For those, I snip the selvage in places so I can fold the fabric without problems.

For binding, I also do as tartan says.

I always leave the selvage edges on when I cut my binding strips. When I sew them together at the forty-five degree angle and trim them, the selvages vanish in the trimming. Since I cut one or two extra binding strips anyway, I don't worry about having to locate a number to use to order more fabric if I run out.

If you don't trim off the selvages at some point, I have found that there will be lumpier places along the edges of the finished quilt. I don't like that. Just my two cents worth.

I never remove the selvege before cutting any WOF strips---binding or otherwise. But after cutting the strips, I lay them horizontally on the mat and square up the edge by cutting off the selvedge edges in batches before sewing with them.

Because it's work. It's one extra step to do before we delve into making that beautiful quilt.

Because there is almost a half inch of perfectly good fabric going to waste. That can be in the seam allowance and no one is the wiser. I just be sure to cut off most of the very edge which has a different, thicker weave.

Very interesting thread.

I would not have them in your final product. But its up to you if you want to trim them off when you cut the strips for the binding or you trim them off as "excess" once you sew them together.

I'll throw my 2 cents in and say that since people make whole selvage quilts, I'd say that it seems that you can use them. Look: They used the whole selvage. I've not heard of any issues. But I've not used them, either. I usually cut mine off and give them away if they are interesting.


https://www.google.pl/search?q=selva...F-BuUg3BjaM%3A