My favorite--Flying Geese! The Dutchman's Puzzle Block

Half Square Triangles, Quarter Square Triangles, and now the last basic pattern--Flying Geese!! To learn how to make flying geese, we are going to to the Dutchman's Puzzle block, which consists of 8 Flying Geese.

Let's begin!  First cut: 16 squares of your backgroung fabric 3-1/2" X 3-1/2"

                                  8 rectangles 3-1/2" X 6-1/2" from your accent fabric

The 8 rectangles that you cut will make the large triangles in the picture (blue and teal), so choose your fabrics according to how you want your block to look. You can use one fabric or as many as 8 different fabrics.

Start with one rectangle and two squares and, on the back of your 2 squares, draw a diagonal pencil line from corner to corner.  Align the square on top of your rectangle with right sides together as shown below.

Instead of sewing on either side of the line, as we have done in the past, we are going to sew on the line and fold the square back on itself, up and to the right.  BUT WAIT!!!  Instead of sewing DIRECTLY on the line, let's sew "one needle's width" to the right of the line (or in the direction that we are going to fold the square). Doing that will give you a perfectly pieced, more professional Flying Geese.  So sew your seam,  trim away the excess fabric, and press your piece as shown below.

 

Now we do exactly the same thing with the second square on the left side of the rectangle.  This time we will sew "one needle's width" to the left of the pencil line (or in the direction that we are going to fold the square after we sew it). Trim away your excess fabric, fold your square back, and press.

EASY, HUH???

Look how beautiful these Dutchman's Puzzle blocks are!