The fabric fold and selvage are different reference lines used when cutting fabric. Selvages are created when woven fabric is manufactured. A fold is created later when yardage is doubled for cutting.
What is a selvage?
The two selvages run along the lengthwise edges of a woven fabric roll. Weft yarns reverse direction at these edges, often making them denser or firmer than the main cloth. Printing, color dots, or small holes may appear there.
Selvages run parallel to the lengthwise grainline, so they provide a useful measuring reference. They are usually excluded from the finished piece because their structure, stretch, or shrinkage can differ from the main fabric.
Selvage is the common US spelling; selvedge is widely used in British English. Both refer to the same woven edge.
What is the fabric fold?
When fabric is doubled, the crease is the fold. In a conventional layout, the selvages are brought together so the fold also runs lengthwise. Some layouts use a partial or crosswise fold to conserve fabric. Whatever the arrangement, both layers should lie flat, relaxed, and on grain.
What does “cut on fold” mean?
A half-symmetrical pattern piece has a straight edge marked “place on fold” or “cut on fold.” That edge sits exactly against the fold and is not cut. When the fabric is opened, it forms one full piece without a center seam.
Leaving a gap between the paper and fold makes the completed piece wider by twice that gap. Allowing the fold to tuck under the paper makes it narrower.
When is single-layer cutting useful?
Single-layer cutting suits asymmetrical pieces, directional motifs, pile fabrics, slippery materials, or layouts where the cloth is too narrow to fold conventionally. A piece originally drafted on the fold must first be mirrored into a full template. Paired pieces must also be cut as true mirror images.
The cutting layout identifies the selvage and fold for the listed fabric width. The arrangement may change with different yardage, but the required grain and orientation of each piece do not.