Selvedge Magazine | Issue 108

Introduction to this issue by Polly Leonard, Founder & Editor Selvedge Magazine

The luxury of darning the elbows when they rub through. Clearly, we need more ammunition in our arsenal. In her article Yan Tan Tethera, Judith Schwartz extolled the environmental benefits of raising sheep. Elsewhere, Adrian Pepe discovers the quality of local Awassi fleece as economic necessity forces him to the hills to source materials. We stay with sheep as Annie Oakley Waterman explores northern Portugal and finds a thriving artisan economy supported by local breeds.

We also look at farmed fibre cultivation; willow in the UK, abaca in the Philippines, linen in Slovakia and hemp in South Korea, and find blueprints for sustainable production everywhere we visit. If you would like to try your hand at living off of the land Bella Gonshorovitz teaches us how to grow, cook, dye and wear rhubarb.

As the war in Ukraine slips from the headlines we remind our readers of The Beautiful Everyday - Refined Elegance of the Ukrainian Peasant in our stunning shoot styled for us by Maria Kvitka and photographed by Dmytro Komissarenko.

Motivated by a lifelong love of fibre, Polly Leonard launched bi-monthly Selvedge Magazine to pay homage to the world of textiles. From the crispness of cotton to the lustre of silk, Selvedge Magazine delves into fibre as the protagonist within a library of stories.

As a visual celebration of the creative talented makers of all the garments featured, each story highlights the significance of textiles as part of the daily human experience. Each page is richly layered in luxurious fabric which is featured as the hero, as textiles are presented front and centre as elements of beauty around which Selvedge Magazine evolves.