Things You'll Need:
- 1 yd. 100% red or black 45" quilting weight fabric
- Washable marking pen or marking chalk
- Steam iron
- Yardstick (optional)
- Matching thread (optional)
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Step 1
Wash and dry the fabric. Lightly press with a warm iron. Find the selvage of the fabric. The selvage is often a different color from the main fabric and is machine bound during manufacturing. It will have the name of fabric manufacturer and fabric name on the edge. Also, it will have no give when you tug.
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Step 2
Find the straight grain. To do this cut a ½" clip in the selvage of the fabric 1" from the fabric's edge. Grab both sides of the fabric and tear from selvage to selvage. Stop the tearing process when you reach the other selvage. Cut through the final bit of selvage. You will now have a beautifully frayed and perfectly straight edge. Please note that this technique only works on 100 percent cotton. Optional: Try this technique on a scrap fabric.
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Step 3
Mark the fabric selvages every 5" on both selvages and repeat the clip and tear process. You should end up with six or seven 5"-by-45" strips of fabric. Optional: Mark the fabric using the yardstick and cut on the line.
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Step 4
Cut the selvage ends off, making sure that you are able to pull loose treads. You will need this ability to continue with the next step.
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Step 5
Fray and knot the ends. To achieve this you will need to pull out thread on both of the 5" ends of the sash. Remove enough thread to leave a 3" to 5" fringe. When you have achieved the desired fringe length, gather a small group of frayed threads together and knot them close to the top of the sash. You should do this about five times. This will secure the threads and give the sash a swash buckling feel.
Comments
Diablo2 said
on 11/8/2009 Very well written article, 5*