Color Coordinated Selvage Edge Quilt Block
This is a fun quilt block tutorial using color-coordinated selvage edges and layer cake squares!
This is a pretty way to showcase all the lovely selvages from the fabric you’ve used in other quilt projects.
You can combine these blocks to make a rainbow or ombre-style quilt or use them on their own to make smaller projects like zipper pouches or hot plates.
Selvage Edge Quilt Block – Materials & Fabric Requirements
- (1) Layer Cake Square (10″ x 10″) – This is your background fabric and it will be visible in the final block.
- (10-15) 5″ Lengths of Selvage Edges grouped by color. How many you need to fill your block depends on how much you’ve cut them off from the fabric. It can be fun to fussy cut these 5″ lengths to get the prettiest bit of the selvages in your block.
- Glue Stick or other type of Basting Glue
- Temporary fabric marking pen or pencil (I used a clover water soluble pencil)
Step 1: Mark Two Lines on Your Layer Cake Square
Using a 2.5″ wide ruler, mark a temporary line on either side of your layer cake square. This should leave you with a 5″ x 10″ wide space in the middle of your square.
Step 2: Layer your Selvage Edges in the middle of your Block
Using your fabric glue dab a small amount down to secure each selvage edge in the middle section of the block that you’ve just marked out.
You want to overlap these so that when you stitch each one down so you are also catching the edge below it.
You can choose if you want to tuck the frayed edges of the selvages under or leave them out for texture and interest.
Fill the entire middle section with selvages.
Step 3: Stitch down your Selvage Edges
Next go to your sewing machine and stitch down the selvage edges – once at the bottom and once near the top of each edge with a top stitch. I used a 3 stitch length.
I didn’t backstitch and I cut threads after each row of stitching. See the video tutorial below if you need a visual for this.
Step 4: Enclose your raw edges
The last step of this block is the most fun.
First, trim any loose threads and make sure that the edges of your salvages are even and touching the line you drew earlier – trim any stragglers with small sharp scissors.
Once that’s done, you are going to fold over one side of the layer cake square by a 1/4″ so that you are enclosing the raw edges at the side of your selvage strips with the folded edge of the layer cake square.
Stitch along that folded edge with a top stitch.
Repeat for the opposite side.
If you are having trouble lining up the 1/4″ fold see the video tutorial for a tip on how to keep this straight.
Lastly trim your block down to 8.5″ x 9.5″ (or smaller if you prefer) and repeat for as many blocks as desired.
Finished Quilt Blocks
I really like how these quilt blocks turned out.
I think you could make a super fun ombre or rainbow-themed selvage edge quilt with these.
I also tried an alternative one (not so color co-ordinated) where I didn’t fill the whole center area and instead just filled a 5″ section in the middle. It gives the block a sort of a square-in-square look – a fun alternatiev.
Selvage Edge Quilt Block – Video Tutorial
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