The instructions say to sew two 5" strips together. Then cut into 5" units. I have cut one piece into a 5" strip. I also had to fussy cut 5"squares out of the pattern piece.

Question is do I now cut the long piece into squares and sew squares together? Or do I lay the pattern pieces on top of the long strip and trim later?

I am thinking of doing the squares and not having to trim.

What pattern are you working on? Sounds like you should have two (2) 5" strips that you sew together. I think you need to read your pattern a little further to see what you do with the 5" fussy cut squares. JMOH

The pattern uses two plain strips. I cut horses and cowboys out of my second strip. There are no fussy cuts in the pattern. My decision was to highlight the cowboys and horses, so I have 5" squares to join with strip #1. I think joining two squares would be easier that sewing the squares to the strip and trimming the joined unit to 5".

You sew the two strips together, and then it says to subcut them into 5" strips.
It sounds like these might be for a 4 patch unit? :D:D:D

If you cut your 2nd fabric into squares I would cut the first into squares and then make your 2 patch units.

Although I'm a big fan of strip piecing, sometimes it is better to cut the exact size, then sew together. I always cut strips the correct length for log cabin blocks.

Thanks for the info. I am going to go with the two exact size pieces. It was my first thought, nice to have confirmation before I cut the fabric. Thanks.