An Overview of Flying Geese Methods

I'm a big believer that there is no single best method for anything in quilting. As creators, it is up to use to choose the best method for the project at hand. I'll warn you now, This is a long one! Grab a cup of coffee and maybe a notebook too. There's a lot of good stuff to learn here.

Neglected Foundation Pieced Geese Lingering in Closet

Why a Flying Geese Post?

One of my modern quilt guild members recently asked our members for help making flying geese blocks for a quilt that she's working on. I was quick to ask many questions about how many geese she needed, what sort of repeating print requirements she had, what size space she was filling. I was, perhaps, a bit more enthusiastic than needed. The many methods of making flying geese fascinate me, and I wanted to help her select the right one for her project. As a part of the conversation, I put together a short talk which I gave at a recent guild meetings. I demonstrated a number of different construction methods and talked about the pros and cons of each. It seemed like handy information, so I thought I'd pass it along here as well.

Rather than reinvent the wheel and rewrite the many wonderful tutorials for flying geese, I'm giving a short description of each method, their benefits and uses along with links to tutorials which offer step by step instructions. I'll be focusing on factors like ease of construction, number of geese yielded, fabric wastage and the effects of directional prints. Hopefully you come away from this post having learned a new method or two, and you are better able to choose the right method for your projects.

Anatomy of flying geese.

Unfortunately online tutorials don't often share a common language. Some talk about height and width in finished sizes, others talk about unseamed sizes. For the purpose of this blog post, I'll focus on standard flying geese units and use finished geese sizes. In some construction methods, I'll cover additional geese shapes and orientations. As a general rule, the methods mentioned here create geese where there base of the goose is parallel or perpendicular to the sides of the quilt. 

The Goose and Background of a single Flying Geese Unit with seam allowance

A standard flying geese unit is made from one quarter square triangle known as the goose, and two half-square triangles that make the background in the upper corners. The width of the finished goose will be twice its height, meaning the lower corners of the goose are 45 degrees and the upper corner is 90 degrees.
When shown with the seam allowance, the bottom corners of the goose should exactly cross the lower corners of the seam line and exactly meet the lower corners of the flying geese unit. Precisely 1/4" of background fabric will be sit above the tip of the goose. 

Standard Geese have 45, 45, and 90 degree angles in the goose.

The height of a Flying Geese Unit is the finished height

The width of the finished Flying Geese Unit is twice the height 

In this post, height and width always refer to the finished sizes. When you follow any links to external tutorials carefully note if they are using finished/seamed measurements or unfinished/unseamed measurements.

Print Orientation

Despite the wide variance in construction methods, most flying geese methodologies yield identical geese units when you are working with solids or all over designs. If you are working with directional prints though, that is not the case. The final orientation of the fabric pieces vary due to construction methods. This should be a consideration when selecting which method to use for your project.

Note: I've totally made up the terms linear directionality and mixed directionality to give us a common terminology as I review the pros and cons of each construction method. You probably won't see these phrases used in formal quilting references. You might though! Sometimes these things spread like wildfire.

Linear directionality

Flying geese have linear directionality if the construction method results in geese that are all oriented in the same direction when they are lined up tip to base. If you were to orient these geese units around the sides of a block like a star, they would either radiate out from or circle around the center.

Flying Geese with Linear Directionality

Mixed directionality

Construction methods for flying geese that result in mixed directionality create geese where the directional prints aren't oriented in the same direction. Often these methods yield two geese with prints pointing in one direction and two geese with prints pointing in another. If you were to arrange these geese around the sides of a star block, you could orient the geese such that prints all run in the same direction.

Flying Geese with Mixed Directionality

If you are working on a project with directional prints or woven fabrics that read differently due to their orientation, you'll want to consider the visual impact construction methods have on your completed project.

Overview of Flying Geese Methods 

Corner square method

One of the most common methods for making flying geese is the corner square method as shown at All People Quilt. Please visit their site for step by step directions. This method involves cutting a single rectangle for the goose which is the size of the finished flying geese unit plus seam allowances and two background squares which are the height of the finished unit plus seam allowance. A line is drawn from on the background squares for sewing. Excess fabric is trimmed away and the background triangles are pressed open. This method creates one flying geese unit at a time and can be time-consuming.

Yields: 1 flying geese unit at a time

Orientation: any direction you'd like

Cutting: 

• one goose rectangle: width + 1/2” by height + 1/2”
• two background squares: height + 1/2"

Benefits: 

• No unusual math involved
• Easy to chain piece
• Accuracy is easy to obtain
• No dog-ear trimming required
• Great for obtaining a scrappy look

Cons:

• Directional print control requires a bit of thought
• Time consuming to mark sewing lines or a steady hand and good eye are required
• Can be tedious to align squares and rectangles
• Wastes fabric in the corners. This can be preserved to make Half-Square Triangles in another project with additional sewing.

Corner strip method

The corner strip method is an adaptation of the corner square method. Instead of trimming individual rectangles and squares for the background, strips are cut and sewn together. The sewn strips are then crosscut into smaller section as demonstrated at AMC Quilts.  Note: their method is for a very specific project, but this method could easily be adapted to suit your own flying geese projects. This is a very fast method when you need to make many geese in the same prints with the same directionality. It eliminates some of the tediousness involved in aligning squares and rectangles.

Yields: As many geese as you can cut from your strips

Orientation: linear directionality

Cutting: 

• one goose strip: width + 1/2” by any length
• two background strips: height + 1/2" by any length

Benefits: 

• Great when you need multiple geese in the same prints and orientation
• No unusual math involved
• Eliminates tedious alignment 
• Directional print control is straight forward
• Accuracy is easy to obtain
• No dog-ear trimming required

Cons:

• Minor amount of seam ripper work required
• Time is required to mark sewing lines or a steady hand to do it by eye
• Wastes fabric in the corners. Any preserved pieces would be pieced quarter square triangles.

Template Method

The template method involves cutting exactly the pieces you need to make your geese from your fabric using acrylic or paper templates. This method can be be slower as you must cut all your pieces individually. It also requires bias sewing. This method is often favored by beginners who don't know there are faster ways that do not require cutting every single piece. Unfortunately beginners are the ones who most often have problems with the fabric stretching along the bias as they sew.

Yields: One goose at a time

Orientation: any directionality that you like

Cutting: 

• all pieces: cut with template

Benefits: 

• What you cut is what you get
• Templates marked with seam allowance are good for fussy cutting
• The process is quite methodical for those who need to clearly understand each step
• Good method for using up scraps

Cons:

• The cutting process can be slow and tedious
• Beginners may struggle with bias sewing
• For acrylic templates, you are limited to the sizes that you own
• Dog-ear trimming may be required depending on the templates you use

Diecut methods

An extension of the template method is using fabric pieces cut with diecut machine (eg. Sizzix, Accuquilt, etc.) or another cutting tool (eg. Brother Scan&Cut)

Yields: varies depending on the cutting machine

Orientation: directionality depends on the die or cutting program layout

Cutting: 

• all pieces: accurately cut by machine

Benefits: 

• Cutting is exceptionally fast 
• The cut pieces are highly accurate which improves final accuracy
• Eliminates the cutting step for those who do not enjoy that part of the process
• Most diecut pieces are already remove dog-ears, so no trimming is required
• Good for either scraps or repeated fabric geese

Cons:

• Beginners may struggle with bias sewing
• For diecut machines like the Sizzix or Accuquilt, you are limited to the sizes that are available. To make a flying geese unit may require two dies - a QST and a HST
• Difficult to do fussy cutting and control grain with die cut machines
• Diecut machines typically results in some fabric wastage
• Dies and machines can be a heavy investment if not used regularly

Foundation Piecing

Foundation piecing is a good method for obtaining highly accurate flying geese. The method easily extends beyond standard geese. Because geese are printed or drawn on paper or interfacing, they can be squashed or stretched to achieve any size strip that you'd like which makes the method good for filling in spaces in sampler quilts. Piecing geese on curves is easy with foundation piecing as well.

Yields: as many as you'd like

Orientation: any directionality

Cutting: 

• Cutting varies

Benefits: 

• Precision 
• Foundation templates can be squashed and stretched as needed to fill spaces
• Also works for piecing geese on curves
• Good for scrappy quilts 

Cons:

• Experience needed with the foundation piecing technique
• Requires print outs or drafting the templates by hand
• Process is typically slower than other methods
• Paper can be tedious to remove or interfacing can add bulk to your projects
• Directionality can be trickier to control, but obtainable with practice

No-Waste Method

The No-Waste Method is a highly popular method for constructing flying geese in modern quilt patterns. Given the rise in cost of fabric, it's easy to understand why quilters are embracing a method that conserves resources. Patch Pieces has an online tutorial with clear directions on creating no-waste flying geese. The method involves cutting one large goose square and four smaller background squares. Two background pieces are aligned to opposite corners and sewn using 1/4"-off-center seams. The pieces are trimmed and then the process is repeated with the other background squares. There's quite a few steps involved, but the method saves fabric and time in the long run.

Yields: 4 flying geese units

Orientation: mixed directionality (2+2)

Cutting: 

• one goose square: width plus 1 1/4"
• four background squares: height plus 7/8"

Benefits: 

• No fabric wastage - economical
• Good use of charm squares
• Quickly yields four geese

Cons:

• 7/8" measurement can be tricky to cut
• Positioning and aligning squares can be tricky
• For most people, 1/4"-off-center seams need to be marked. Some people will only need to mark center seams. With practice, you should be able to mark less
• Requires minor dog-ear trimming 

Dimensional One Seam Method

Unlike other flying geese construction methods, the dimensional one seam geese creates a 3D goose with two small pockets as demonstrated in the tutorial at Piecemeal Quilts.  These pockets can then be sewn down by hand or machine or used as a feature in the quilt. The method involves folding the fabric into a book or sandwich, sewing a single seam and then doing a minor bit of origami to finish the flying geese unit. In the photographed example, an additional line of basting has been added to the bottom of the goose.

Yields: 1 pocketed flying geese unit at a time

Orientation: any direction you'd like

Cutting: 

• one goose rectangle: width + 1/2” by height + 1/2”
• two background squares: height + 1/2"

Benefits: 

• No unusual math involved or marking required
• Sewing involves a single seam
• Creates 'pockets' which could be a feature of a project like a little note holder in a cushion 
• Pockets can be turned to create faux cathedral windows (see tutorial)

Cons:

• The goose 'pockets' can be problematic for quilting. Feet can snag if they aren't secured
• The folded fabric adds two layers of bulk to projects
• Orientation is challenging to figure out

Misaligned seam method

The misaligned seam method is a very different method to wrap your head around when you first try it.  (Note: the linked tutorial is based on unseamed sizes.)  When I demonstrated this method at guild, "that's so bizarre" was commonly heard. The general method allows you to be a bit fast and loose with your positioning and cutting. You roughly center things, generally sew with a 1/4" seam and make geese that require trimming to an accurate size as a final step. The general principle of this method is that you're loose and relaxed. I never quite eased into it, but included it because we're all different and it might just be the best choice for you.

Yields: 4 flying geese units

Orientation: mixed directionality (2+2)

Cutting: 

• one goose square: width + 1 1/2"
• one background squares: width + 3"

Benefits: 

• Good for someone who isn't into precision
• Very relaxed approach to making flying geese

Cons:

• Frustrating for those who like precision and clear process
• Heavy-duty trimming required at the end. I'd recommend a geese trimming tool for this one.
• Significant fabric wastage

Seminole Method 

The Seminole method from Mary Hickey is another unique approach geese construction method. You really need to watch the entire video tutorial for the results to become clear. It uses an approach similar to traditional Seminole quilting borders. I find the process to be quite involved, but it yields many geese at once and may be good for someone used to working with Seminole strip methods. The process involves starting with bias-cut strips

Yields: vary with strip sizes, but typically you get a lot of geese from this process

Orientation: any direction you'd like

Cutting: 

• Refer to video. Strips are all bias cut

Benefits: 

• Process oriented for someone who enjoys methodical sewing
• Yields a significant number of geese in one go

Cons:

• Great deal of bias sewing involved on long strips
• Significant fabric wastage
• Very slow to assemble Seminole strip

Elongated Geese

Corner Rectangular Geese by my friend

After my presentation, our guild member with the question dashed off to make her geese. We queried, "which method did you use?"  It turns out she opted for another variant all together which utilized rectangles. If you replace the squares in the corner square method with rectangles, you can create elongated background pieces. Similarly you can replace the half square triangles in the template or diecut method with trapezoids and get the same effect.

Just when you think you've included them all in your demo, another method pops up!

Summary

This hopefully offer you an overview of a number of flying geese methods. There are, of course, others that I missed. Most of these methods result in accurately sized geese or only require a minimal amount of trimming. Of course, tools like Blocloc rulers can be used to help you trim, if needed.

Much like half-square triangles, if you are uncomfortable with your ability to sew precisely, you can make your geese oversized and then trim them down. Just ensure you leave 1/4" at the top tip of your flying geese units and the bottom corners of the goose exactly meet the bottom corners of the block.

Who knew there were so many ways to make geese? Do you have a favorite method? Or know of another that I missed?