Cindyb, I was told to cut 18" from the length of the first strip (assuming you are using precuts, then they are aprox 44" wide) and then sew all the 44" strips to then end of that first strip. Since you are doing scraps, it doesn't really matter. You just don't want every seam to end up at the same exact point. Once you have sewn them all end to end, you pick up the two ends and start sewing them together, so the seams would line up if you had not offset them in some way. I loved the finished piece, but it is sort of boring to do.