Straighten Up And Fly Right
 

I love Flying Geese, but I am not too good with triangles. I thought I would do a test. It came out okay, but some points are cut off and others are too far from each other.

Also, I'm doing something wrong with the first three pieces. Even though I am careful with the sewing, they seem to be over-lapping wrong. See where the scissors are pointing? I actually had to cut the fabric to get it to pull out all the way. This would look better if I could press it, but I have to turn off the heat in order to turn on the iron. Sorry.

But for a first try, what do you think? (forgive the cheapo Christmas fabric, but I did not want to use my good stuff on an experiment.)

You have to press the triangles as you add them. If you don't, you get the situation you illustrate in your first photo. Sew triangle, flip & press, sew second triangle. They look good. THe Christmas fabric is very cute!

after sewing the first ivory triangle on - open it out and press it flat.

then sew the second ivory triangle on.

check some youtube videos - but i think that is where the problem is.

Oh, thank you Princess and Bear! I had not thought of that. Makes all the difference in the world.

I really like the Eleanor Burns flying geese rulers for making these. I know there are lots of different methods, but that's the one I use.

I cheat by cutting with accuquilt dies for flying geese, because I love geese, but they dont love me.....

There are many methods for making flying geese. If I want scrappy ones, I use the method you are using here. That allows me to use different triangles on the corners.

A very popular method makes 4 at a time. There are others as well. I'd suggest checking Pinterest and search "flying geese tutorial". Regardless of the method used, be sure you are cutting accurately - my biggest problem!

Also, as you sew them on, if you can't turn the iron on, you can finger press the first triangle back. That little step will get the corner all the way back and should help.

Once your FG are made and you want to sew them together tip-to-base, it's important to pin correctly so you don't cut off the point. There are a couple of ways to do this.

One is to use an ironing board and a straight pin. Place the FG with the point on top, and run the straight pin straight down at the point. Add 2 pins to each side, and remove the straight-up-and-down pin. When sewing, keep that side up so you can see to sew just 1 thread outside that intersection. That one thread of space allows the turn of fabric so the point is kept.

I prefer glue-basting to pinning, which is similar to the above but instead of placing the 2 pins to the side of the straight up-and-down pin, I use a tiny dot of Elmer's white school glue in the seam allowance and dry with a hot iron. Again, it is important to sew with that tip up so you can see that you are not sewing part of the tip into the seam allowance.

You also need to pin accurately when sewing columns together.

What the others said and I would recommend the FG Bloc Loc rulers.
You make them bigger then trim. They come out perfect.

Bloc Loc rulers, yes, also Deb Tucker's wings clipper. I was afraid of geese until I got those tools. Mine never came out right.