Four flying geese at once, out of one large square and four small ones, with nothing left over. That is the promise of this method, and it is why hardly anybody makes geese one at a time any more. The older way sews two small squares onto a rectangle and bins the trimmed-off triangles. This way uses every inch you cut.
Suzy of Suzy Quilts works through it on her Shining Star block, where four geese point in at a log cabin center. She marks a guideline rather than trusting her eye, sews either side of it, then gives the back half of the video to the part that decides whether geese look sharp: trimming them without clipping the point off.
The cutting math
A flying goose is always twice as wide as it is tall, so one that finishes 2 inches tall finishes 4 inches wide. Pick the finished size and the no-waste formula hands you both cuts:
- One large square for the goose: finished width plus 1 1/4 inches
- Four small squares for the background: finished height plus 7/8 inch
A 2 by 4 inch finished goose wants one 5 1/4 inch square and four 2 7/8 inch squares. Accurate squares matter more than anything else here, so spend a minute on cutting quilt fabric properly.
There is a second approach, and it is the one in the video. Cut slightly larger, then trim each unit down to size. You lose a thin strip of fabric and get four identical units even when a seam wandered. Suzy trims hers to 5 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches, the same ruler work as squaring up a quilt block.
Why the quarter inch has to be scant
You sew a quarter inch either side of the drawn line, never on the line itself. The line is where the rotary cutter goes later. Make both seams a scant quarter inch, a thread or two under a true quarter. The thread and the fold of the pressed seam eat a sliver of fabric, so a dead-accurate quarter finishes small.
Everything here assumes your seam is right, so if you have never tested yours, sew a quarter inch seam first and measure it. Consistency beats accuracy. A seam that is always a hair narrow gives you four matching geese. One that wanders between the two sides of the line gives you a goose with a long wing.
Press between the rounds, not at the end
After the first cut you have two units that look like hearts. Press them before the next background square goes on, or the seam allowance folds the wrong way under the next seam and buries the point. Lift the iron and set it down instead of sliding it, since every edge here is bias and bias stretches under a moving iron.
To the side or open is your call. Suzy presses to the side, which lets seams lock together later, while open lies flatter under dense quilting. Pressing quilt seams settles the trade-off. Starch earns its place here, because it stops bias edges growing.
Where flying geese go wrong
The point got cut off. Almost always from trimming before checking. Look for a quarter inch of background fabric above the tip before the blade moves. That quarter inch becomes the seam allowance in the block, and without it the tip disappears into the seam.
The units came out small. Your seam is a true quarter or a touch wide. Go scant, test on scraps, and never try to stretch a finished unit to size.
The wings are uneven. The two seams were different widths, or the squares shifted while you sewed. Four pins fix the second one.
The unit ripples. Normal halfway through, and it presses flat. Still rippling afterwards means the bias has grown.
Flying geese and half square triangles are cousins, both built from squares and a drawn diagonal. Once the geese are trimmed and the blocks are sewn, adding borders to a quilt turns them into a quilt top.
