Did you remember to allow for seam allowances?

Yes I accounted for seam allowances. Need 2 boarders at 90”. And 2 at 96” if you have cut them at 3.5. After you allow for selvage sand seam allowances let’s say you get 40” usable width. That is just over 9 strips

I was "cutting" the strips lengthwise into 36 inch long strips - for the reasons i mentioned above.

I did assume that the original poster was trying to get border strips as wide as possible from the fabric available.

However, cjsews is correct if one chose to cut width of fabric:

372 divided by 40 = 9.3 strips -she would need to cut 10 strips to make it work.

372 divided by 45 = 8.266.... - then she would need to cut 9 strips to make it work.

3.5 x 10 = 35

3.5 x 9 = 31.5


I think the original poster might want to do some graph papering to decide where she wants the seam lines - I like them to be more or less "balanced" - but that may just be a bit of my OCD showing.

Don’t you love options

Sometimes other people suggest things that I would never have thought of! :)

Start with how many strips you will need (do not think of WOF as 45", it usually ends up shorter. I think of it as 42" just to be safe). I would plan on 10 strips (think a minimum of 2 1/4 per side and extra to cover the width of a 4" border). So, if you only have a yard of fabric, your strips can not be wider than 3 1/2". If you did cornerstones, then you could just get by with 9 strips and they could be 4" wide. When I piece border strips (2 1/4), I tend to put the short piece in the center of the border for a balanced look. Depending on the fabric, I will sometimes topstitch the seam with a decorative stitch drawing attention to it rather than trying to conceal it. I think of it as another opportunity to embellish.