how wide should the border be?
 

I have a baby quilt top and it's roughly 32 x 35 and I am not sure how wide the border should be. The blocks are 4.5 by 4.5, would a 3 inch be OK?

Lay out your quilt and try adjusting the border fabric to different widths. I just did that recently with a charity quilt. I always find that auditioning help me make a decision. I think that 3" finished would look OK.

Lay out your quilt with varying widths of your border fabric showing and see what you like!

Any size is OK, even no border at all. It's up to you!

I agree with auditioning your widths sometimes the fabric pattern is such that it dictates what your width should be more so than the size of your quilt blocks. Let the quilt and the fabric tell you what it should be.

All of the above.... AND.... if you don't want to piece your backing keep the borders narrow enough to fit your approx 40" width of regular cotton.

I like mine to frame up the main body of the quilt. For that size, I would go with about 3" or so. Take a look and see what pleases your eyes. Maybe even do two smaller borders. Double borders done in colors that are somewhere else in the quilt, can be very pretty.

As already said ... no hard and fast rules as to width.
You might even want to have more than one border.
Even on that small of a quilt it can work.
Plus of course, you can go borderless.

Knowing the block size, does not really tell us what the pattern/design is.
Sometimes that is what really helps us determine what looks right/best for a border.

Totally agree with ThimbleBug ........ starting at the size you have, I would keep my borders so that it would fit on one WOF.

Thank you all. I'm going to go with the 2.5 inch to make sure I stay in the 40 inches