I think the 1" stripe would be perfect. And that is a great idea to cut a strip from a striped fabric rather than piece all those little squares together. I guess another option would be to sew alternating solid black strips and solid white strips together then crosscut them into 1 1/2" strips and sew them together to make the 1" row of alternating squares. I love the quilt! Would be great to use for travel photos!!!