QuickCheckTools

Flying geese calculator

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Enter the finished height of your geese and how many you need. You'll get the pieces to cut and how much goose and sky fabric to buy.

Worked example

Flying geese that finish at 2" × 4" (Quilter's Cache's published sizes):

  1. Four at a time: one goose square 4 + 1¼ = 5¼" and four sky squares 2 + ⅞ = 2⅞". Makes four geese.
  2. One at a time: a goose rectangle 2½" × 4½" and two sky squares 2½".
  3. Either way, each goose measures 2½" × 4½" before it's sewn in.

Questions

What size do I cut for no-waste flying geese?

Cut one large square 1¼" bigger than the finished width of the goose, and four small squares ⅞" bigger than the finished height. One set makes four geese. For 2" × 4" geese: one 5¼" square and four 2⅞" squares.

What size for one flying geese unit at a time?

Cut a rectangle ½" bigger than the finished goose both ways and two squares ½" bigger than the finished height. For 2" × 4" geese: a 2½" × 4½" rectangle and two 2½" squares. Sew the squares on the diagonal and flip them back.

Which flying geese method is best?

Four at a time uses less fabric and gives you four geese from five squares, with no offcuts. One at a time is simpler to follow and keeps the outer edges on the straight grain, but you trim away two triangles for every goose.

Are flying geese always twice as wide as they are tall?

Standard flying geese are, which is what these formulas assume. Enter the finished height and the calculator uses a width of twice that.

How many geese for a border?

Divide the border length by the finished height of a goose if they point along the border. A 48" border with 2" × 4" geese takes 24 geese.

Do I need to trim?

The sizes here are exact. If you like to square up, cut the squares ⅛" bigger and trim each goose to its unfinished size: 2½" × 4½" for a 2" × 4" goose.

Assumes ¼" seams (0.75cm in metric) and 40" usable fabric width (102cm). Sizes match Quilter's Cache, Happy Quilting and the Utah Education Network chart (whose last three rows are misprinted), and are checked against the sewing geometry.