Flying Geese, fast and easy

At the April meeting, I gave a quick demo on a speedy way to make the Flying Geese unit, with only one seam! This is a method I learned from Ricky Tims, who learned it from a quilter in England. Here are the quick and easy steps for a finished unit of 2.5" x 5".



1. From your "background" fabric, cut two 3" squares. From your "goose" fabric (the triangle) cut a rectangle 3" x 5.5". Of course if you were making a number of units, you could cut 3" strips, then sub-cut.

2. Now make your "sandwich": Lay one background 3" square right side up. Fold your rectangle in half, right sides out, and lay on top of the 3" square with the folded edge at the top and raw edges aligned at the bottom. You'll notice the folded edge will not line up with the square at the top, it will be about 1/4" short of the top edge. This is correct, don't worry. (see photo above) Lay your other 3" square on top to complete the "sandwich", right side down, with all edges carefully aligned.



3. Stitch a 1/4" seam on the right hand side of the sandwich.






4. Press seam to one side. Then open up the rectangle to form the "goose".













5. Press. You now have a Flying Geese unit which measures
3" by 5.5". When it is sewn into your project the finished dimensions will be 2.5" x 5".






Here are the cutting sizes for Flying Geese of other sizes:

Finished Size 1" x 2", cut squares 1.5" and rectangle 1.5" x 2.5".
Finished Size 2" x 4", cut squares 2.5" and rectangle 2.5" x 4.5".
Finished Size 3" x 6", cut squares 3.5" and rectangle 3.5" x 6.5".

If you would like to watch a video of Ricky Tims demonstrating this method, click here