Some inventive fabric designers have begun using clever
motifs instead of printing the color coordination “dots” on the selvage of the
fabric. Instead, they often coordinate the color compatibility
choices using motifs that complement the fabric, with things such as
butterflies, flowers, leaves, animals, birds, fans, etc. Then other clever people came up with ideas
for using those selvages in innovative ways instead of tossing them into the
garbage can. Pictured below is my current pile of strips on the cutting mat.
Incidentally, there appear to be two spellings of selvedge... or selvage... and each of them is acceptable, not to be confused with salvage, which refers to rescued property. One of my friends surprised
me with an adorable pincushion made of selvage strips, and said there is a
myriad of ideas on Pinterest for using these selvages in ways we would never imagine!
A Minnesota quilter on one of my quilting lists said she makes
orphan quilt blocks into 12” x 18” place mats, and donates them to a Meals on
Wheels program, where they are given to shut-ins when the meals are delivered. That sparked an idea in my mind. I love snack mats, or mug rugs, to set my
mugs and glasses on that protect my furniture… and thought it would be neat to make them out
of the selvage strips. Last night, I treated myself to an evening of “fun”
sewing… and stitched up a couple. They
can be made in any size you choose… and I think the strips would be great for
making a set of coasters with 5” charm squares as the backing, to give as a
gift for someone special. It would be a perfect way to use leftover charm
squares, as well as using leftover batting pieces. I love the colorful mats,
but perhaps no one would appreciate them as much as another quilter!
Here’s how I made mine.
Cut the backing and batting to the desired size. My examples
are 10” squares. Lay the batting on the wrong side of the backing.
See photo on left.
Place one pin on each of the 4 sides to keep
the layers in place while you begin sewing strips on the batting, shown above on right.
Begin by
placing one strip diagonally across the center of the batting side. Pin it in
place on each end to secure the strip. Each strip will have a selvage edge and
a cut edge, with a bit of the fabric showing, where it was cut from the width
of the fabric. Choose a second strip and
either slide the cut edge under the selvage edge of the strip you have pinned
in the center, or place the selvage edge over the cut edge of the strip you
have pinned on the center, depending on which side of the center strip you are working
on. See photo on left. Stitch as close to the edge of the selvage as you can, securing the two
strips to the batting. Your stitching line will also quilt the layers
together. Be sure to remove the pins when
you reach them, so you don’t sew over them. Continue to choose strips and sew
them outward from the center until the batting is completely covered, as in photo below on the right.
Looking at the back side, you will have
diagonal rows of quilting covering the backing. See photo below on left.
When you have covered the whole square of batting, put it on your cutting board, backing side up. Using a rotary cutter and ruler that is longer than your snack mat and using your backing as a guide, trim all edges of the selvages even with the backing. Now your mat is ready for binding.
See photo at right.
Binding: Cut strips of the background fabric or coordinating
fabric the width of your choice… for the 10” square, one strip of binding fabric cut the width of fabric was enough to go around the mat. If binding is not familiar to you, there are many you-tube videos
demonstrating the process. I cut my strip 2” wide. I also do my quilt bindings this way, but use 2-1/2" wide strips for them.
Press the strip in half
along the long edge, wrong sides together so your binding is doubled with both raw edges together. Turn one end in to form an arrow
point. Press well… it’s okay to
use steam! Then fold it along the center again and press neatly. See photo below, right.
Beginning a few inches away from the “point” you
pressed, line the binding up with the edge of the snack mat, so that the raw
edges are all lined up together, and begin sewing. Start sewing a few inches beyond the “point”,
leaving that portion until you finish, as you will tuck the other end of the
binding into that arrow point before sewing that last portion. I start at about
the middle of one side, and I do not pin when sewing the binding on at this
point, just line it up as I go. 
On the corners, bring the binding corner “loop” up so the fold is even with the side you just finished sewing. There are You-tube videos demonstrating that, if you do not know how to sew the corners of the binding. Then bring the edge of the binding even with the mat edge and sew each side until you come to the last side. See photo at right.
Put the end of the binding into that arrow point, so that it is well covered, and then cut the excess binding off and finish sewing the binding. See photo below, left.
I sew from the front side, but some prefer to sew it to the back side and topstitch from the front. After the binding is stitched down, turn the folded edge to the back of the mat and pin or clip it so that the folded edge is just covering the stitching line.
Then stitch from the front, next to the binding, and it should catch the edge of the binding on the back. I have some vision problems, so I stitch along the edge of the binding. Using a thread color matching the binding helps to disguise any errors, but I just used the same off-white I used to sew the strips on. I strive to be neat with my stitching, but at this point in my life, I think close is just fine! I sew for the joy of sewing, and if my stitching isn’t as pretty as it once was, I accept that… or my frustration would force me to give up one of the things that gives me fulfillment and satisfies my creative needs. There are no quilt police in my neighborhood to pass judgement on me, thank goodness!
Finished snack mat is shown on the right, The distortion is from my photo angle. Now I am excited to make some small, 5" coaster sized mats. I might also experiment with some different ways of binding them. With my diminished eyesight, it's difficult for me to machine sew binding on neatly. Hand stitching the final seam would make a neater binding, I believe, but it would also be difficult to see well to do the hand hemming, so it is a Catch 22.
I have two baby quilts to get finished for Cairo... then I will be free to work on more of the quilts that are forming in my mind, beckoning to be translated into fabric. I also have a huge bin of finished tops to sandwich and quilt. I think I'll need to live a lot more years to get everything finished!
Happy sewing to you all, where ever you may be! Spring is coming... the squirrels are busily performing their high-wire acts in my back yard, so I am convinced that warmer weather must be on the way.
