{"title":"How to Make Flying Geese 4 at a Time","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/quilting/how-to-make-flying-geese","category":{"slug":"quilting","name":"Quilting"},"creator":{"name":"Suzy Quilts","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC530P7YMs3Lf29twP4XCiBw","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da9X92Rjufs"},"tldr":"Make 4 flying geese at once from one large square and four small ones. The cutting math, the scant quarter inch on both sides of the line, and the trim.","totalDurationSeconds":530,"difficulty":"medium","tools":["Sewing machine","1/4-inch patchwork foot","Rotary cutter","Self-healing cutting mat","6 x 24 quilting ruler","6 x 12 quilting ruler for trimming","Iron","Seam ripper"],"materials":["Cotton quilting fabric for the geese, one large square","Background cotton fabric, four small squares","50 wt cotton piecing thread","Glass head pins","Water-soluble fabric marker","Spray starch"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Lay Two Background Squares on Opposite Corners of the Large Print Square","text":"Put the large print square right side up on the cutting mat. Suzy sets hers on point, as a diamond, which makes the diagonal easier to see. Lay two of the small background squares right side down on opposite corners of it, so the two inner corners meet in the middle.They will look like they overlap slightly. They should. That overlap is what gives you the seam allowance on both sides of the cut. Smooth everything flat with your palm and check that all the outer corners line up with the corners of the big square underneath."},{"number":2,"title":"Draw a Diagonal Line Corner to Corner Across Both Background Squares","text":"Lay a long quilting ruler from one corner of the background squares to the opposite corner, straight through the point where the two of them meet, and draw a line along it with a fabric marker. One line, corner to corner, running across both squares.This is a guide and nothing more. You are not going to sew on it, you are going to sew on either side of it and then cut on it. A crease pressed in with the iron works just as well, and so does a strip of tape on the machine bed, which is what Suzy uses once the pieces get small enough to fit."},{"number":3,"title":"Pin Both Background Squares on Either Side of the Drawn Line","text":"Push four pins in, two on each side of the drawn line, well clear of where the needle is going to run. On a square this size the two layers will creep apart otherwise, and creeping is where an uneven goose comes from.Keep them flat against the fabric and out of the seam path so you can pull them as you reach them. Once the pieces get small, in the second round, most people drop the pins entirely."},{"number":4,"title":"Sew a Scant Quarter Inch Seam Down Each Side of the Drawn Line","text":"Run one seam a scant quarter inch to the left of the line and a second one a scant quarter inch to the right. Two separate passes, both from edge to edge. Nothing gets sewn on the line itself.Scant means a thread or two under a true quarter inch. The thread and the fold of the pressed seam swallow that sliver, so a dead-accurate quarter inch leaves you with units that finish a whisker small. Watch the edge of the fabric against your guide rather than watching the needle. It is what keeps both seams the same width, and both seams matching matters more than either one being perfect."},{"number":5,"title":"Cut the Square Apart Along the Drawn Line With a Rotary Cutter","text":"Lay the ruler so its edge sits right on the drawn line, hold it down firmly, and run the rotary cutter along it in one pass. You are cutting between the two seams you just sewed, which splits the square into two identical halves.Scissors work too, since the line tells you exactly where to go. A ruler and a rotary cutter are faster and give you a straighter edge, and a straight edge here makes the trimming at the end much less fiddly."},{"number":6,"title":"Press Both Halves Open Into Heart Shaped Units","text":"Take both halves to the iron and press the background triangles open, away from the print. What you get is a shape most quilters call a heart: one big print triangle with two background ears standing up at the top. Two of them, identical.Press, do not iron. Lift the iron and set it down instead of sliding it across, because every edge here is cut on the bias and a moving iron drags bias out of shape. Do this now rather than at the end. An unpressed seam allowance folds the wrong way under the next seam and buries the point."},{"number":7,"title":"Lay the Third Background Square Over the Center of the Heart Unit","text":"Take a heart unit and lay one of your two remaining background squares right side down over the middle of it, with its corners matching the notch between the two ears. Do the same with the second heart and the last background square.Mark a diagonal line across the new square, corner to corner, exactly as you did the first time. Pin either side of it if the pieces still feel big. By this stage they are small enough that a tape guide on the machine bed usually does the job."},{"number":8,"title":"Sew Both Sides of the New Line, Then Cut Between the Two Seams","text":"Same two passes as before. A scant quarter inch down one side of the new line, a scant quarter inch down the other, nothing on the line. Repeat on the second heart unit.Then put the ruler back on the line and cut between the two seams. Each heart splits into two, so the two units you started this round with become four. Suzy counts them out loud at this point because it surprises people: one large square and four small ones just turned into four geese."},{"number":9,"title":"Press Open and Count Four Flying Geese Units","text":"Press each of the four open, background away from the print, and lay them out together. Four flying geese, all the same size, all from five squares of fabric. Each one has the print triangle pointing up with a background triangle either side of it.They will have little triangles of fabric poking out at the corners. Those are the dog ears and they come off in the trimming. Do not cut them now. They give you something to line the ruler up against."},{"number":10,"title":"Line the Quilting Ruler Up on the Flying Geese Unit Before You Trim","text":"Work out the unfinished size first. It is the finished size plus half an inch, so a 5 by 10 inch finished goose trims to 5 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches. Suzy turns the unit so the seam she wants to keep runs down one side, then lines three things up at once.The corners of the ruler sit on the two seams where the background meets the print. The mark for your full unfinished width sits on the opposite seam. And half of that width, 5 1/4 inches on a 10 1/2 inch unit, lands on the tip of the goose so the point stays centered. Get your head over the ruler and check all three before the blade moves."},{"number":11,"title":"Check the Quarter Inch of Background Above the Flying Geese Point","text":"Before you cut the top edge, look for a quarter inch of background fabric above the tip of the goose. That strip becomes the seam allowance when the unit gets sewn into a block. Trim it away and the tip vanishes into the seam, which is what people mean when they complain about blunt geese.Cut two sides, rotate the unit, line the cut edges up against the ruler and cut the last two. The second pair of cuts is much quicker because the alignment is already done. Repeat on the other three and you have four trimmed flying geese ready to sew."}],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-09-15T18:55:26.755Z","published":"2026-09-15T18:55:20.036Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}