Making Flying Geese Using Directional Fabric

Flying geese are one of the most popular quilt units and are very often used in the classic sawtooth star block. While there are multiple ways to make FG, my favorite for sawtooth stars is the 4-at-a-time method. It has very little fabric waste and yields the exact amount of FG needed to make a sawtooth star. This post assumes that you already know how to make 4-at-a-time flying geese. If you need a refresher, check out this quick reel.

I've been making a lot of flying geese lately, as I'm hosting the Two Peas Quilt Along, and the Two Peas pattern features a star with FG in the center of the block. The fat quarter bundle I've been using is the gorgeous A Year in Petals collection by Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery Fabrics, and many of the prints are directional.

With certain patterns, I don't pay attention to directional fabric and just let things fall where they may. However, for this pattern, I really wanted all my fabrics oriented the same way. It really elevates this particular block design, so I've been careful to make sure all my directional prints face the same way. 

Flying geese with directional fabric:

Did you know that making a set of (4) FG with directional fabric is super easy? I'm going to show you how to orient your fabric pieces so that when you put your star block together, all the fabric is facing the same direction.

For these FG, the star points will be the print. Start off with your usual large square for the background or "goose" and the (4) smaller squares for your star points or "sky".

Flip over the print squares so the print is the same direction for all of them and the wrong side is up. On (2) squares, draw a diagonal line from the top left corner to the  bottom right corner. On the other (2), draw a diagonal line from the bottom left to the top right. 

Take (2) of the prints that have the same line orientation and sew them, right sides together, to the larger square as you normally would. Both print pieces should have the fabric direction going the same way, as shown below. 

Cut on the drawn line, press the seams, and lay the last (2) print squares on the corners of the heart shaped pieces. The fabric of the corner squares should be facing the opposite direction of the print pieces already attached. 

Sew on both sides of the drawn lines and cut on the lines. When each of those corners is flipped out and pressed, the fabric direction will match the fabric on the other side of the unit. 

You will end up with (2) flying geese with the fabric print horizontal, and (2) flying geese with the fabric print vertical. Trim them to the desired size.

Lay out your sawtooth star, paying attention to where each piece should go to make all the fabric going smoothly in one direction.

What if I want my background to be a directional print?

This is even easier! If your large center square is a directional print and your small squares are solid, then you can just make the 4-at-a-time FG method and you will automatically end up with the right orientation for all the flying geese to fit nicely into a sawtooth star. No extra thinking required! 

The Two Peas pattern makes (2) inverse blocks at a time, so below you can see how the first block has the star points all the same direction and the other has the background all the same. 

If you're making Two Peas and want to make your QST directional too, read about that here.