Flying geese are one of the first blocks a beginner meets, and there is more than one way to make them. In this week's Technique Tuesday, Yvonne makes the same block twice, by two different methods, so you can see what each one costs you in fabric and in fiddliness before you commit to a quilt full of them.
There is a detail in it worth catching. Partway through, with nothing going wrong and the seam behaving, she stops and changes the presser foot. The block had not changed. What had changed was what she was following while she sewed.
For the three methods side by side, the size chart for every unit size and how to keep the point, see our guide to making flying geese quilt blocks.
Watch the changeover rather than just the stitching. In one half she is following a line drawn on the fabric, and in the other she is running against a cut edge with no marking at all. Those are two different jobs, and they want two different feet. Most of us pick a foot for a project, or for no reason beyond it being the one already on the machine, and then adjust ourselves to it. Naming what is actually keeping the seam honest, a drawn mark, a cut edge, a seam already sewn, makes the choice for you.
If you want the no waste method written out, with the math for cutting four geese from one square, we have it here: how to make no waste flying geese.
Yvonne makes Technique Tuesday for us. You can find the rest on our YouTube channel.
