Home >> Hobbies >> Sewing

Triangle Geese Quilting Ideas

Many people enjoy quilting because it allows them to turn small scraps of fabric into beautiful and useful works of art. Many traditional quilt blocks use small pieces of fabric for a mix-and-match effect. Triangle geese, also known as flying geese, are a traditional quilt piece made from squares of fabric. Flying geese blocks consist of a large central triangle with a smaller triangle of contrasting fabric attached to each side.

Uses
- Flying geese triangles are a traditional quilting shape that can form the focal point of a quilt or create a border around the edge. You can combine flying geese triangles into stars, crests or other shapes to add additional visual interest to a quilt. Because flying geese triangles are made from small squares of fabric they are an excellent way to use up scraps of fabric that might otherwise go to waste.
Measuring and Cutting
- A flying geese triangle will be twice as long as it is tall. Knowing the final height and width of the piece tells you how large to cut your initial squares. The square that becomes your central large triangle needs to be 1 ¼ inches wider than your finished piece and the square that becomes your two ̶0;sky̶1; triangles needs to be 7/8 inches larger than the height of your finished piece. For example, to make a set of four flying geese that are each 3 inches by 6 inches cut one 7 ¼ inch square and four 3 7/8 squares. Cut the large square diagonally into four triangles and cut each small square diagonally into two triangles.
Piecing and Pressing
- To piece flying geese in the traditional way, sew the long side of one small triangle to each short side of your larger triangle. Use a scant ¼-inch seam and press the seams towards the larger triangle. Use a seam guide, a ¼-inch foot or a pencil to mark a ¼-inch line and sew just to the outside of that line. Pin carefully and make sure that the corners of your triangles line up before you begin sewing. This is what assures that your seams will be even when you sew the quilt blocks together.
Other Tips
- The traditional method for piecing flying geese makes four sets of geese without wasting any fabric. If you need only one or two flying geese you can use the speed piecing method. That method starts with a rectangle and two squares. Other piecing methods for flying geese make varying numbers of geese with different amounts of leftover fabric. Regardless of which method you use, the key to flying geese is to measure, cut and sew your squares carefully.

Sewing