Flying Geese Quilt Block Tutorial

There are many spectacular and inspiring antique and modern quilts made exclusively of Flying Geese quilt blocks. Flying geese are also often used to make quilt borders. Beyond this, the flying goose is a foundational shape found within many traditional quilt blocks. Having the ability to make geese in any custom size is really helpful if you desire to recreate certain traditional blocks. Of course you can use the shape to create your own unique block designs. In this tutorial I share my favorite method of making them. This method makes four geese at a time and you can tweak the size to whatever you need by using a very simple formula. Keep in mind that flying geese are twice as wide as they are tall so typical sizes are 1” x 3”, 2” x 4”, 3” x 6”, or 4” x 8” etc. but there are no limits. Use the formula to make whatever size you need.

Flying geese begin with five squares. One big square and four smaller squares (shown on the left). These five squares become four flying geese (shown on the right). I prefer to make my geese slightly oversized so they can be trimmed down to their perfect unfinished size. Below is my preferred formula.

Flying Geese Formula

Determine the size to cut your large square: Finished flying goose width + 1.5 inches

Determine the size to cut your four smaller squares: Finished flying goose height + 1.25 inches

The finished flying geese I made for this tutorial are 3” x 6”.

Using the formula:

6”+ 1.5”=7.5”

My large square was cut to 7.5”

3” + 1.25”= 4.25”

My four smaller squares were cut to 4.25”

1) Place the large square on your cutting surface and cut the square from diagonal corner to corner as shown, then again from opposite corner to corner. This will yield 4 triangles as shown in step 3.

2) Cut each small square from diagonal corner to corner once to yield 8 half square triangles as shown below.

3) The large square has been cut from diagonal corner to corner twice, and the small squares once. Now the flying geese can be assembled.

4) Arrange the pieces on your work surface as shown above.

5) Place the corner triangle on top of the goose triangle with the right sides of the fabrics facing each other. Pin it in place and sew the two pieces together with a 1/4” seam allowance as shown above.

6) Press the seam open.

7) Place the opposing corner triangle on top of the goose with right sides of both fabrics facing as shown above and sew them together with a 1/4” seam allowance.

8) Press the seam open.

9) One flying goose ready to be trimmed! Repeat steps 4-8 to make the remaining 3 flying geese.

Trim The Geese

1) Trim the top edge leaving 1/4” above the tip of the goose triangle.

2) Trim the bottom edge to your block’s unfinished height. In the example my block’s unfinished height is 3.5”.

3) Trim even amounts off both sides of the block to your unfinished block width. In the example my block is trimmed to my unfinished size of 6.5”. Repeat steps 1-3 to trim the remaining 3 geese.

And that my friend is how to make precise flying geese blocks in any size you desire! If you’re going to make a whole bunch of them I recommend to sew a stack of flying geese and then trim them all at once. This speeds things up rather than trimming each one as you make them.