Flying Geese Four at a Time

Flying geese are so commonly used that it just makes sense to know how to make multiple at a time. In this post I'm going to show you how to make four geese at a time, and then in my next post I'll show you how to make single geese.

As with my half-square triangle tutorial, this method is not new, many people use it, however I see many people cutting their fabric to the exact size for the geese. I much prefer to cut mine just a slight bit larger than needed which enables me to square up my blocks at the end, making them easier and more accurate to then piece together. I also see many people who start with fabric cut larger than mine, meaning they will have more to cut off when squaring up. This is also fine, however the measurements I use I feel are a happy medium between not wasting too much fabric, and yet still being able to square up to perfection.

Step one:

- Cut one square 1 ½ inches larger than the finished length of your flying geese. In this example, my flying geese needed to be a finished size of 1 inch high and 2 inches long, and so I cut my square at 3 ½ inches (2 + 1 ½).

- Cut four squares 1 inch larger than the finished height of your flying geese. In this case 2 inches (1 + 1). Turn these four squares over and draw a line diagonally across each.

Step two:

- Place two of the smaller squares right sides together on top of the larger square in diagonally opposite corners. They should over-lap a bit in the middle.

- Sew parallel to the drawn line, a ¼ inch on both sides.

- Cut in half along drawn line

Step three:

- Fold over green triangles and press flat.

- Place remaining two small squares on previously unsewn corners.

Step four:

- Sew as before, a ¼ inch either side of the drawn lines.

- Cut in half along drawn lines.

Step five:

- Fold over green triangles and press flat as earlier.

- Trim geese down to size, in this case 1 ½ by 2 ½ inches, and you're finished!

Of course for more traditional flying geese with the backgrounds all the same colour you would need to cut your four smaller squares all out of the same fabric. I however, was wanting a more scrappy look for my geese and so chose to cut them out of four different shades of green.

Flying geese are such useful little blocks, either own their own as a nice border, or pieced together to form larger blocks. I used these particular geese along with another four geese to make a Flying Dutchman block.

I hope this was of some help to you. For those of you who already have a favourite method for making your flying geese I hope that my more scrappy take on them might have inspired you to also see where you can mix things up a bit and add a bit more colour and interest into your blocks. Happy quilting!