Using the QuiltersCache pattern where 1, 3 and 5 are solid colors and 2 and 4 are patterned....
If you are going to paper piece and use a solid color (either white or black), that solid color would need 100 small blocks.
If you cut the small blocks out and cut on the lines that would be covered with the colored fabric, I am calculating the following at 7 1/2 inch blocks to allow for some leeway when paper piecing:
40 inch wide fabric divided by 7 1/2 = 5 blocks per strip with a 2 1/2 inch left over...
100 blocks divided by 5 per strip = 20 strips at 7 1/2 inches wide each....or 150 inches/36 inches = 4.16666 yards
Depending on how wide you want the colored pieces to be, you can just cut strips that size and there would be little paper piecing waste. Part of that calculation will depend on how many colors you decide to use and whether you want the strips to be even as in QC or angled as in the first picture above. From the size of the original quilterscache pattern which is even, I would use 1 1/2 inch strips by 7 inches....and you need two per small block -- for a total of 200....
Calculating cutting the strips either way (1 1/2 wide or 7 wide), I get either 8 strips at 7 inches wide (pieces per strip = 26) for 56 inches needed OR 40 strips at 1 1/2 inches wide (pieces per strip = 5) for 60 inches needed. This assumes you use the same color all the way through.
Now if you change the width/angle of the colored pieces, all bets are off LOL! But I would still cut the basic white/black the same way....Of course you waste a bit more.....but to me that is the easy way to cut the pieces quickly.
Hope this makes sense!
rr