Math🤯?
 

I’m trying to get measurements for a borderfor a 90”x90” quilt.
If I only have one yard what is each strip cut to?

Edited to add yardage is 45”.

Are you going mitered or non mitered?

Either way

If cutting on the length of grain -

I would cut eleven 3-3/4 inch strips = 41-1/4 inches

If one is comfortable cutting 3-7/8 wide strips = that would use up 42.58 inches of width.

Theoretically, one could get eleven 4-inch wide strips from a 45 inch width - but i would go for the slightly narrower width.

11 strips will give you 396 inches total of length - you might want to play with where you want to place the seams.

No matter which way you cut it, you will have to do some piecing to get the needed lengths.

P.S. Those are theoretical measurements - your piece of fabric may not be cut "exactly" straight

I would cut lengthwise strips for three reasons:

1) Lengthwise usually has less stretch
2) The piece may or may not be cut exactly straight/even
3) This will have to pieced anyway, and I think it is easier to cut shorter lengths

How I arrived at those numbers:

Use the perimeter measurements plus four additional border widths plus seam allowances.

Was given the 90 inch measurements and decided to use 4 as a border width guess and used 6 for seam allowances

(90 + 90 + 90 + 90 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 6) = 380

Divide 380 (approximate total length needed) by 36; approximate length of fabric available

380 / 36 = 10.55....

So - I would need to cut 11 strips - which would give me 396 inches of length

Then I would start multiplying various numbers by 11 to see what I come up with:

4 x 11 = 44 (too close for my comfort - let's try something narrower)
3-7/8 x 11 = 42-5/8 - I can deal with that
3-3/4 x 11 = 41-1/4

These numbers are theoretical -

Wait - don't we need to know how wide she wants the borders to be??

Mitered borders take more yardage, so you're probably better off with straight borders.

Bless you!!! Can we live next door to each other? ��

Your border strips are not each 90”. Two sides will be 90” plus 2x whatever the width of the borders. Also she says she only has 1 yd of 42” wide fabric

The strips will have to be pieced together to get an adequate length.

Whether they are cut lengthwise or crosswise from a piece of fabric that is 36 inches long by 42 to 45 inches wide.

I think you will need 10 strips so you should be able to cut them no more than 3.5 wide

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.