(Almost) No Waste Flying Geese
Flying geese. I love them and I hate them. One of the reasons I decided to make the Ricochet Quilt last summer was to improve my technique with these units. If you're like me, you hate the waste of piecing them traditionally, but struggle to get them to the right size with their points intact with the no-waste method.
Enter the (almost) no waste flying geese method. This method lets you make four geese at once that end up slightly oversized so you can trim them down to the perfect size. You can also use a full quarter-inch seam instead of a scant seam. This prevents the tops of the geese from getting cut off. Finally, it gives you a little more room for error in case one of your squares is slightly off.
Cutting
Cutting is based on the size of your FINISHED flying goose block. There's a chart after the picture, but in a nutshell:
You will need one large square for the goose (inner) fabric. Size of square is your desired finished width plus 1.25 inches. Cut the square on each diagonal so you have four large triangles.
You will need four smaller squares for the sky (outer) fabric. Each square is 1.25 inches larger than the desired finished height. Cut each triangle in half diagonally so you have eight small triangles.
Here's that chart:
Then trim the left and right sides of your goose based on where the sky fabric meets the bottom of the goose.
Still struggling? Try cutting your pieces 1.5" larger instead of 1.25". You'll get a little more waste, but lovely looking geese with more room for error. Happy goose-making!
Enter the (almost) no waste flying geese method. This method lets you make four geese at once that end up slightly oversized so you can trim them down to the perfect size. You can also use a full quarter-inch seam instead of a scant seam. This prevents the tops of the geese from getting cut off. Finally, it gives you a little more room for error in case one of your squares is slightly off.
Cutting
Cutting is based on the size of your FINISHED flying goose block. There's a chart after the picture, but in a nutshell:
You will need one large square for the goose (inner) fabric. Size of square is your desired finished width plus 1.25 inches. Cut the square on each diagonal so you have four large triangles.
You will need four smaller squares for the sky (outer) fabric. Each square is 1.25 inches larger than the desired finished height. Cut each triangle in half diagonally so you have eight small triangles.
Finished Size
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Cut 1 Large Square
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Cut 4 Small Squares
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2” x 1”
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3.25” x 3.25”
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2.25” x 2.25”
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4” x 2”
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5.25” x 5.25”
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3.25” x 3.25”
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6” x 3”
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7.25” x 7.25”
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4.25” x 4.25”
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w” x h”
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(w + 1.25)” x (w + 1.25)”
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(h + 1.25)” x (h + 1.25)”
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Sewing
Line up the diagonal of a small triangle with the diagonal of a large triangle. The goose triangle should be roughly in the center of the smaller sky triangle. When in doubt, move it down a little lower - we want those top points to be perfect!
Sew as indicated in the picture above and press the sky fabric back, then trim off ONLY the extra fabric (dog ear) at the point of your big triangle.
Repeat on the other side with a second sky triangle. This time I start sewing at the bottom of the goose so I'm going with the direction of the pressed back fabric, not against it.
Trimming
The most important part of trimming is that top point! Using the bottom of the large triangle as a guide, measure a quarter inch above your top point and trim. This is a very forgiving method, so if the top points of your geese are always getting cut off, you can give yourself an extra eighth of an inch here too!
If your bottom is straight, you shouldn't even have to trim that side. But if it needs a little trim, go ahead and do that now. And then - four perfect flying geese with only a little bit of fabric waste!
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