PenneB

Kitsie, I like your ruler! Still playing with these measurements!

Gay

For 5x10" fl. geese I use one square 11 1/4 - and four 6" (5 7/8). I don't use a scant seam allowance, and never have any problems.

Try drawing a line from corner to corner and sewing either side, You may find it doesn't matter. I usually trim those centre corners off anyway, they just cause bulk.

PenneB

Thank you Gay--I will give that a try!

quiltingshorttimer

I agree with Gay--they work best if you have exact size blocks to make them up. i do use a scanter 1/4" seam though.

Wanabee Quiltin

thanks everyone for all your help to this board member, I will be saving this thread.

PenneB

Thank you to everyone!

I finally figured this thing out. So I'm kind of a newbie--figuring things out on my own. In this case the measurements in the tutorial I found are correct--to "trim up" your flying geese to 5 x 10, make the large square 11 3/4 and the small square 6 1/4. The problem was, in an effort to not have leftover starched fabric, I was starching AFTER cutting my squares. Now, I am fully aware that you press so as not to stretch the fabric--what I wasn't aware of is that you can actually shrink the fabric! My test goose worked perfectly--but I wasn't concerned with starch so I was just putting it together. Finally after 3 attempts using my actual fabric I was convinced it was shrinking--I measured before and after in each case. On the first attempt I was doubting my cutting. The second I thought, well, maybe I messed the cutting up again. On the third I absolutely knew my cutting was correct and it was the starch. So, I made a new square, no starch and it sewed up perfectly! I love learning new things!!

bearisgray

Glad you figured out what was happening.

I am one of those soak and wash before cutting people - I prefer to avoid surprises like that.

Did you measure the sizes of your pieces after starching and pressing them to see how much they shrank?

Kitsie

PenneB, here is another tutorial for the No-Waste method. Maybe it could help you.
[url]http://www.patchpieces.com/files/flyinggeese.pdf9/url]

PenneB

Yes--a full 1/4" on one side and slightly less on the other! It was definitely a surprise!

Donnamarie

OK, one trick I learned from an owner of the local quilt shop is that when putting the small squares on the corners, do not line up the corners exactly. She has always told us to lie the top squares just a tiny bit in from the edges (so you can see the bottom fabric). By doing this you will have better results. Good luck.