Selvage
narrow edge of a woven fabric parallel to its length
A selvage (US English) or selvedge (British English) is a "self-finished" edge of a piece of fabric which keeps it from unraveling and fraying. The term "self-finished" means that the edge does not require additional finishing work, such as hem or bias tape, to prevent fraying.
In woven fabric, selvages are the edges that run parallel to the warp (the longitudinal threads that run the entire length of the fabric), and are created by the weft thread looping back at the end of each row. In knitted fabrics, selvages are the unfinished yet structurally sound edges that were neither cast on nor bound off. Historically, the term selvage applied only to loom woven fabric, though now can be applied to flat-knitted fabric.
The terms selvage and selvedge are a corruption of "self-edge", and have been in use since the 16th century.
In textiles
Definition
According to Hollen, Saddler & Langford, "A selvage is the self-edge of a fabric formed by the filling yarn when it turns to go back across the fabric." In traditional looms, the selvage on both sides of a piece of fabric were manufactured same, whereas in modern shuttleless looms these selvages are low because of cutting filling yarn and selvages looks like fringes.
Different types of selvages are as follows:
Plain selvages. These are like fabric, do not wrinkle and are used in sewing selvage in fabric construction.
Tape selvages.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Selvage” is narrow edge of a woven fabric parallel to its length. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Selvage, narrow and edge, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “narrow edge of a woven fabric parallel to its length” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1943467. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Selvage” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.