December 2022 bandana by Marina Terauds

A selvage's main purpose is to prevent unraveling or fraying, which makes a fabric stable and secure. Some fabrics come with frayed edges for aesthetic purposes. A selvage's self-finished edge makes sure that this fraying won't come undone and affect or damage the rest of your fabric.

Find a more detailed history of the bandana here.  One of our favorite passages from this history...

As a minimum, you can expect bandanas to be 100% cotton... Some of the best makers offer selvedge bandanas, which have a barely noticeable selvedge line on one or two edges. The edges that are not selvedge will be folded and stitched.

One of the few places you can check the quality of the work is the corners. Has it been stitched together hastily, or is it clean and precise work? If you’re paying for well-made, it’s fair to expect nothing short of perfection. 

Hand feel is an excellent guide here. If you like the look of the bandana, pick it up and rub the material between your fingers. Is it soft and supple? That’s a sure sign that the maker has gone out of their way to source top-grade cotton for their bandana. If it feels crisp or papery, mosey on to the next one.

Some well-made bandanas are deeply saturated in colour and could block out the sun on a cloudless day. Others are given a gentler dye treatment and are almost transparent. One isn’t better than the other, it’s just a matter of the maker’s purpose and your preference.

Finally, a well-made bandana, when unfolded and laid flat, should communicate something to you. It might tell a story, or it might evoke some far-away time and place or something nearer and dearer. 

Great makers produce bandanas with this kind of intention. The bandana is their canvas, and, like all artists, they want their story to be understood and their work to be appreciated.  

How this fabric is made

The process of herbal dyeing was developed through extensive research on age-old dyeing methods practiced since the days of the Indus Valley civilization. The process of herbal dyeing starts with the greige cloth passing through several stages of treatment before it becomes colorful and ready to wear. During this entire treatment only natural processes are used.        

The washing of processed greige cloth starts with removing sizing, gums and oils used in the course of weaving by washing with natural mineral-rich water and sea salts.

Fabrics are exposed to direct sunlight and use of a natural grass base starts the bleaching process.           

To make the colors bright and fast, natural mordants such as myraballam, rhubarb leaves, oils, minerals, alum, iron vat etc are used. We do not use heavy metal mordants like copper, chrome, zinc, tin, etc.

Then medicinally rich herbs, plant material, minerals & oils like, turmeric, myraballam, castor oil, sea salt etc are used for dyeing fabric or yarn. 

In herb dyeing, finishing is done by sprinkling pure water on the cloth and then stretching under pressure, using hand rolls, aloe-vera, castor oil etc.

Solid and liquid waste is separated through the process of filtration and used for farming purposes as fertilizer and for watering the fields.

Caring for your fabric:

• Machine wash on gentle with a free + clear, neutral detergent. (wash alone or with like colors to account for potential bleeding the first few washes)

• Tumble dry on low heat setting or line dry.

• Limiting direct sunlight and minimizing washing will help to protect the natural dyes from fading and/or discoloration