How to Sew Flying Geese

Flying geese are common units in many different quilt patterns. While there are several different methods for making them, learn how to make them faster by making four flying geese at a time. Toby Lischko shows you how.

Flying Geese Quilt Block

Toby begins by talking about how a flying geese quilt block is made. If you break it down into parts, a flying geese is made from two half square triangles and one quarter square triangle. You can either make the flying geese unit by cutting those triangles, making it from one rectangle and two squares, or by using Toby’s fast flying geese method, which has you cut one larger square and four smaller squares. She explains that patterns will generally give you cutting instructions for the size of pieces you will need, depending on the method used in the pattern. However, if a pattern gives you cutting instructions for a different method and you are wanting to make four flying geese at a time, like shown in this tutorial, Toby shares the mathematical formula for how to figure out what size pieces you will need.

Once she explains how to know what size pieces to cut, and shows hers already cut out, Toby shows how to sew flying geese by first marking and placing the smaller squares onto the larger square. She demonstrates where to sew on the squares and then how to cut them apart. She then shows how to press the pieces and assemble them with the remaining square to finish making the four flying geese units at the same time.