Selvedge Magazine: Issue 116 Uncut

Buy Issue 116 Uncut of Selvedge magazine. At the recent Selvedge Wardrobe Revolution Weekend symposium, the conversation revolved around the concept of value. Scarcity and value were comfortable bedfellows in a pre-industrial society, but today, when we live in a world of abundance, to what and how we assign value is a more challenging question.

This quandary accounts in part for the resurgence of craft in the 21st century. Craft skills are rare in contemporary society, so when the evidence of such skills is observed in an object, it gains kudos. It is a win-win if the product also solves an issue of the day, such as the problem of landfills. Benchmark examples include Ashita Singhal of Piawand, who upcycles waste into valuable new products, and Celia Pym, the mother of modern mending, who gives value to throw-away fossil-fibre-derived fast fashion with visible mending.

In her article “The Great Uncut," Sarah E. Braddock Clarke highlights wasteful and wasteless pattern cutting and points to non-Western clothing construction as a more conscious approach. Garments which maintain the integrity of the uncut cloth are inherently less wasteful and more flexible than conventional cut-and-sew construction, and this issue considers uncut cloth in its multiple forms, exploring the history and significance of the sari, turban, hijab, and Kashmir shawl.

What is Selvedge magazine?

Polly Leonard launched Selvedge magazine in 2004 to celebrate our cerebral and sensual addiction to cloth while promoting skilfully made and carefully considered textiles. Every issue features talented makers and their lives and stories. Polly believes the most interesting and evocative textile stories deserve to be shown in the best possible light and has thus created a magazine that is an aesthetically beautiful experience.