Selvedge (Selvage) - What is it?

[Giles]

The terms selvage (US English) and selvedge (British English) are a corruption of ‘self edge’, and have been in use since the 16th century.

Selvedge is the term for the self-finished edges of fabric. The selvedge keep the fabric from unravelling or fraying and is a result of how the fabric is created. In woven fabric, selvedges 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.