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Trimming Flying Geese Quilt Blocks Without a Special Ruler
I film the demos of the block of the month at my LQS. The lady who does the demos was telling us about this method for trimming flying geese that she had figured out. I groaned because I knew that meant that I was going to have to make flying geese that month. One of the other ladies in the classroom told me, "Oh that's me with half-square triangles. It's not me it's them. They just don't like me. Flying geese must not like you." I think flying geese and I are on speaking terms now.
I finally tried the method for myself when I was designing my Spools and Stars table runner. Like I said earlier I normally will just use HSTs instead of flying geese but the stars are so small I couldn't do that. The pieces were going to be so small and there were going to be too many seams. I had to use flying geese if I wanted the block to look good. With a bit of a modification of the method, it actually worked for me. Maybe flying geese aren't so bad after all.
Supplies For Trimming Flying Geese Quilt Blocks Without a Special Ruler
You need a ruler big enough to cover your flying geese that has a 45-degree angle on it. Any ruler as long as it fits those two requirements will work. The other thing you need is Glow Line Tape. That's it!
Sewing Flying Geese Quilt Blocks
You can use any method for making flying geese that you want. As I said before I've always struggled with this quilt block. One of the wings is always wonky and I have yet to find any methods that oversize the block enough to trim and keep all your points.
I am going to work on the math, I need to figure out the formula, so I can share the method I used in my stars. Right now though I only have the size I used and I don't know if the math will work on other sizes or not.
Setting Up Your Ruler for Trimming Flying Geese Quilt Blocks
The Glow Line tape comes in packs of three colors. You will need two of the three colors.
1. With your glow line tape outline the size your flying geese quilt blocks should be. In the pictures below I'm using 2 x 3 1/2.
2. With another piece of the same color of glow line tape mark the 45-degree line.
3. You will need another color of tape for the next two steps. Glow line tape is 1/4" wide so where your 45 degree line is put a piece of the new color parallel to your outline tape as shown below. This is where the tip of your flying geese will live.
4. With another piece of glow line tape the same color as used in step 3, place another piece 1/4" from the opposite side as the one you placed in step 3. This piece will save your tip when you rotate your block to trim the other side.
That's all you need to do, now it's time to trim some flying geese quilt blocks.
Trimming Flying Geese Quilt Blocks Without A Special Ruler
So I've done a little demo video for you so you can see how I trim them up. I want you to keep a few things in mind when you do this method. First, that intersection you made in step 3 that little spot where the two pieces of tape cross is where your tip lives for the first cut. When you rotate your block to trim the other two sides your tip needs to line up with the TOP edge of the tape.
It really is that easy and I'm now a little more optimistic about including flying geese units in my patterns without using my ghost sewist Paul.
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