How can it be that after 26 years of quilting I have never made flying geese. That all changed this weekend. I followed the instructions in my pattern and enjoyed making them. I have never liked sewing triangles, stitching on the bias does not make me happy. With this technique, no triangles are required. The flying geese units in this block will finish at 1.5" x 3". From the yellow fabric I cut four 2 5/8" by 2 5/8" squares. From the blue fabric I cut one 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" square. With the larger square right-side up lay two smaller squares wrong-side up on top as shown. Draw a line down the middle and then stitch 1/4 inch from your line on each side. At first you may find it helpful to draw the sewing lines. Just place the 1/4 inch mark of your ruler on the line you have drawn down the middle of your squares and draw another line to mark where you need to sew. Once your unit is sewn it is time to cut along the pencil line between your rows of stitching. Press towards "the geese" and this is what you end up with. Now for the very cool part: Place another square on top of the unit you just made, Once again, draw a line down the middle. Sew 1/4 inch from that line (on each side of it.) Then cut on the drawn line in the middle. Arre you ready for this? Look at those beautiful flying geese units! My pattern called for making them oversize so now on to the trimming. On the recommendation of the pattern designer I picked up a set of Flying Geese rulers by Bloc Loc. These are really nifty little rulers. The only drawback is you have to get the one for the correct finished size of your unit. So they may not always be an affordable choice for a project. But if this is a size you are going to use again and again then they really cut your time down. Let me show you what I mean. The method I am going to compare to uses a regular ruler for trimming. Line up the 45 degree angle line on your ruler with the seam of your unit. Make sure you leave 1/4 inch above the point of the triangle for your seam allowance and cut across the top. The bulk under that seam can cause your ruler to slip so be careful. Next, turn you unit 180 degrees, and line up your ruler to the desired size of unit to be sewn (not the finished size of the unit, but the finished size plus 1/2 inch for the seams-in this case I am trimming the units to 2" x 3 1/2". ) and trim again. Notice, that I have lined up that 45 degree line on my ruler with the seam again. Rotate the unit and trim the other two sides in the same manner. Now for the Bloc Loc version. The indented part of the ruler slides right into place along the triangle. Using the rotary cutter just run it along the right side and top of the ruler. Turn the unit and trim again. ( I have really come to appreciate the rotating cutting mat that I have for trimming units like this.) This is how they all went together. I purchased a set of three of the flying geese rulers at a discount. The other rulers in the set are for flying geese that finish at 1" x 2" and 2" x 4". To use the same method I will cut my fabric as follows: For the 1" x 2" 4-squares 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" 1-square 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" For the 2" x 4" 4-squares 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" 1-square 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" BlocLoc has created a chart with the sizes needed for this method which can be found HERE. Links for the tools I used:
As always, what seems clear to me in my descriptions may not be so clear to you, so please make use of the comments section if you have suggestions for improving this tutorial.
Happy Quilting! Deb
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We have all heard how important a 1/4 seam is. It sounds so easy, but how elusive it can prove to be. Did you know that the accuracy of your 1/4 inch seam can be affected by the thread you use, among other things. It is important to check the accuracy of your seams before beginning a new project, especially if you are using a different thread and/or needle size. Here is my little tutorial on how to achieve that mysterious seam needed for quilting. There is nothing new here, but perhaps you, dear reader of my blog, will find it helpful. Step 1: I cut three strips of fabric that measure 1 1/2" x 4" wide using two different fabrics. Step 2: One of the often overlooked keys is how you sit at your machine. It is important to sit facing your machine "square on." As you look at the needle you want your eyes to align with the presser foot in such a way that you are looking straight at it. My machine has a 1/4 inch foot that I use, I make sure the edge of my fabric is lined up with the edge of the foot. My throat plate also has a quarter inch mark that I make sure is lined up as well. One other thing I check is that the top edge of my fabric lines up with the horizontal mark on the throat plate-this tells me everything is squared up and I will be starting with a straight line as I sew. (Notice the two arrows in the photo,) When I sew I I focus my attention, not on the needle, but on that quarter inch mark on my throat plate. I was so used to looking at my needle from my garment sewing days that it took a bit to realize how much this little change in focus helped. With right sides together sew the strips together and press towards the dark side. Step 3: Now I can check how accurate my seam is. The middle strip should measure 1" across. I want to show you in this next photo how much difference there is if I move my needle over one position on my machine. My machine has the ability to move the needle to the right and left several places. Here I have moved it one position to the right and you can see that the middle strip is now over 1" even though I only moved the needle over a very tiny fraction of an inch, basically a needle width. But just that little bit is enough to affect the accuracy of my blocks. If your machine does not have this feature you may find it helpful to use a seam guide, of which there are many available options, that will help you line up your fabric on your machine as it enters the stitching area. You might even find placing a piece of tape on your throat plate is all that is needed once you figure out where your quarter inch mark should be. Pictured below are some of the things I have used in the past, before I purchased my current sewing machine, that helped me with acheiving accuracy. These are all adhesive guides that can be removed when not needed. I hope this helps. Happy Quilting! Debra |