Originally Posted by Honchey
I don't think you lose 6 inches..It's like an optical illusion. what you lose on one side you gain on the other. the only time you lose inches is when you have to match a pattern in the fabric. try it with paper..you'll see what I mean. Anne
You cut a triangle off of each piece. Put those two triangles together and you'll have a 6 inch square if your border is six inches.
One time several of us were putting together our guild opportunity quilt. I measured the quilt and figured how much yardage we needed for the borders. One of our other members ran over to the quilt shop and got the fabric. She cut and started the borders. She had to go back to the quilt store twice for more fabric! I double and tripled checked my figures and knew I was right. Then I found out she was using diagonal seams to join the borders!! Yes, you lose a square the same width as your fabric every time you do a diagonal seam.