Truly Perfect Flying Geese - Tips & Tricks from the Tucker Team

[@cherrywhitaker7608]

Love your videos and tools. What you don’t know about patchwork isn’t worth knowing 😊

[@dc5600]

Thanks! I just ordered the Wing Clipper and the Tucker Trimmer.

[@doreensherk287]

I just bought this ruler, good demo, thanks for the tips

[@martast.john-anders6448]

Great tips! I am a new quilter and I am working on a quilt with many flying geese. I'm getting better but I couldn't figure out why that 90 degree angle had grown a little. I am also eager to try the sandpaper trick. Thank you!

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

You are very welcome. When learning geese can be just a bit tricky.

[@nealmccullough2261]

I love all your tools. For the small squares, I use your eighth inch ruler and cut the squares 1/8 in larger and they work really good when trimming.

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

It is great to hear how you are using the eight in ruler. Oversizing really helps with everything.

[@barbarawalker1921]

I have owned wing clipper for a long time but when making someone else's pattern I will usually try their method. I am working on a sew-a-long a weekly block. This week's block has flying geese. I made one strip of 7 flying geese using their method. Turned out okay considering I haven't made many flying geese. But I knew they could be better and decided today was the day to learn how to use my wing clipper. I am so pleased they turned out perfect! I was not surprised as any of Deb Tucker's rulers that I have taken the time to learn how to use I have loved the results. This one surprised me only because I was trying to make dark background with light geese, turned out the opposite with with light background and dark geese. Note to self the large square makes the geese had to laugh at myself. Thank you Deb for another fabulous ruler. Bet I make lots more flying geese.

[@notesfromleisa-land]

I never use any method than Deb's. Consistently accurate, frustration free. I also use FG's instead of HST's that some patterns call for that make the FG unit with an unnecessary seam that HST provides.

[@suesuplicki9906]

Great tips I love them

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

Thank you.

[@cindybenoit3452]

Love watching your tips. Thank you ❤

[@notesfromleisa-land]

Great tips and tricks Deb. Here's my evangelical message on Deb's tools: "Deb Tucker makes many rulers to help quilter's accelerate their learning curve and achieve frustration-free, perfect results." I recently converted a HST pattern which used HST's to make Flying Geese. Why make 2 HST units when 1 accurate FG unit will do? I made160 perfect flying geese using this tool. I have a couple of hacks I'll share while in that heavy production mode. I glue baste my small squares to the large squares and do so en masse. I mark a diagonal on the large square and serpentine a bead of glue inside the seam allowance. Place my squares (with the nudge!). Heat set the squares. They are secure! (You could simply do this step and stop and have much benefit). Stack them up in a pile and..... .... slice it down the diagonal. Then sew a perfect 1/4" where the clean cut edge (and securely fastened sky blocks) runs right against your quarter inch gated foot or seam guide. It is much faster --for me--sewing against my seam guide than sewing on either side of the line. I do the same for adding the second square to the two halves for the second pass. The glue adheres the squares securely and stabilizes the bias. Careful pressing and trimming with Wing Clipper tool assure that every unit is perfect. If you have to sew flying geese units together at the base, (to form a square v. nose to tail) consider pressing one sky toward goose and the other sky away to get a perfect nesting corner. I saw that tip from Carolyn Gibbs Quilts. It made a really big difference in my finished block.

[@cynthialodermeier5291]

My first quilting instructor had us use sandpaper in a folder! Great tips! Thanks Deb….

[@boyoung7977]

Your tips are fantastic. I’m a general sewer who dips into quilting occasionally but your tips are good for all sorts of sewing. Love the sand paper tip. You have given me a bit more confidence to have a go at a more complicated quilt than plain squares.

[@donnafelker8840]

I use Deb's Wing Clipper and now use these tips too. Works beautifully! Thanks for these extra tips especially sewing just inside the two lines of "railroad tracks." That one is awesome! Love this tool and Deb's extra tips! Thank you.

[@terribishop5313]

You just saved my sanity 💗💗 the wing clipper is great but these tips oh yaaaa!!!

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

Glad I could help!

[@nancydublin9666]

Deb, your tips on marking on superb! Thank you.

[@michellegallas9916]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.❤

[@cherylmarshall37]

Thanks, great tips.

[@susantrombley9014]

Your so good you always give us great tips.

[@PeleLua1]

Oh my, I love all these tips! The sand paper though made me go “Why didn’t I think of that?!” 😜 Thank you for these tips, can’t wait to try them out and help me improve my flying geese.

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

Glad it was helpful, and I hope you have fun making your Flying Geese with these tips 💜

[@donnarogers2429]

I just tried my new Wing Clipper tool. Fabulous, wonderful, too easy, super simple! Thank you Deb Tucker. Highly recommend these tools.

[@pgklowak]

Just heard about you and your flying geese methods. This is something that has been frustrating me for quite some time.T hanks so much for this instructional video and your tools. I'll be checking out more of your videos and your ruler

[@notesfromleisa-land]

Deb's tools allow perfect execution for quilters of any experience level.

[@catheykrupa1363]

These are great tips! I think they are going to help me a whole lot. Thanks for sharing!

[@MarciaBaker1205]

Thanks for all the great tips. What is the nudge?

[@lisabierman7279]

I never heard of this before either!!

[@mariagillin2856]

I can watch you all day thank you for sharing your wonderful Tips 🇦🇺😍

[@sherylrathge9774]

Oh Deb! Thank you so much for this tutorial. I have learned so many good tips that I’m sure will truly improve my precision when making Flying Geese! I can’t wait to try it! And I must say, I LOVE your Wing Clipper rulers!

[@gaildunn8047]

My favorite tool!

[@barbaraschmidt7084]

Excellent tips!!

[@gwynwellliver4489]

Love my Wing clippers Deb!!

[@my7166]

Excellent tips. Thank you.

[@lindacwynar9235]

that was a lot of information thanks so much.

[@Darbydo5107]

Will definitely be adding the sand paper trick to my diagonal seam marking. My fabric always moves and stretches when marking. Thank you!

[@marilynnjefferson8525]

Love your tools & videos. I’m just learning the Tuckerizing methodology. Getting better, but not quite ‘there’. You nailed one of my problems here- getting that stitch line in the exact best spot. I love that you sew with the quarter inch seam instead of the vague scant quarter. But would you please consider making a scant magic wand? I keep trying to sew just inside those railroad tracks, but I’m not good at it.

[@belyndamulloy33]

Thank you very much for these tips.

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

You are so welcome!

[@kerryl4031]

Funnily enough I was watching your migrating geese tutorial this morning! Thank you - I like the ironing tip - very useful as sometimes I've had the banana sides! xx

[@huisuk]

Thank you

[@brendamoss4752]

Thanks!

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

Welcome!

[@sandyfusco6738]

What do you mean by the nudge??

[@notesfromleisa-land]

The nudge is nudging the small squares inside the larger square so that you can see the outside edge of large square behind small...about 2 threads worth. The instructions show this well with the ruler. It is wonderful ruler.

[@carriehoman8476]

Hello! I am new to quilting and am wondering how to Tuckerize the element that you didn't demonstrate! It has a square with small QSTs, and in the pattern I am working on, larger HSTs are then added to make a FG unit. Anyone??

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

Hi Carrie, unfortunately, I can't picture this. If you can email an image of what you are trying to do to customer service I can try to help you there. The contact information can be found at the bottom of my website.

[@carriehoman8476]

@@DebTuckersStudio180Design I did send an email to your team. It's a Birds of Paradise! Whipping them up like mad now. Thank you so much for your wonderful videos.

[@sandywinters8761]

How do I do flying geese on a curve, to edge around a mariners compass?

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

You will have to find a Paper Pieced pattern for that. That is not something that we have anything for.

[@phh1789]

What is the size ratio of the big square to small square in this method?

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

It's approximately 2:1, but you can see the exact size recommendations on the Wing Clipper set of instructions which you can see here: bit.ly/WingClipperInstructions

[@theresaatkinson6628]

Thanks for the video. You touched on many things, except Thread. The thread is very crucial to successful flying geese. Also, your ironing, you pressed in the wrong direction.

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

Yes, the thread can be key when doing this process, I like to use a nice 50wt when piecing. I wanted to address some of the other concerns quilters come across when making flying geese. For the pressing when we do this method we press toward the small triangles as it helps the process and reduces bulk at the point.

[@ThreadandWonder]

What is the difference between wing clipper and wing clipper 2

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

The Wing Clipper 1 deals in 1/2" and whole inch increments while the Wing Clipper 2 deals with 1/4 and 3/4" increments. You will use the Wing Clipper 1 a lot more than the Wing Clipper 2. So start with that one and then go from there.

[@playme129]

I don't quite understand the nudge when putting 2 smaller squares in opposite corners of the larger square.

[@cindymcfarland4686]

Don't have the small square line up exactly with the large square: nudge it in just "a tad" so that you can see a bit of the large square on the 2 edges instead of having those 2 edges flush. I would say nudge the 2 edges in less than 1/16th inch. I hope that makes sense.

[@playme129]

@ Cindy. Your instructions make perfect sense. Thank you so much. I had never heard of this technique before. Virginia in Ohio. Stay well.

[@mindyroeske2743]

What is difference between wing clipper & I & II. Three separate rulers with slightly larger or smaller. Why three???

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

Wing Clipper and Wing Clipper 1 are two different names that are used to refer to the same tool. The Wing Clipper 1(wing clipper) works with whole and half-inch finished units. The Wing Clipper 2 works with units that finish to 1/4" and 3/4" increments. Sizes that come up occasionally but not very frequently. The size flying geese the tools work with are listed on the product pages on our website.

[@mindyroeske2743]

@Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Design thank you so much for clarifying

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

@@mindyroeske2743, you are welcome. If you have any other questions please let me know.

[@Dragonflies08]

"just inside the nudge" would make a great t-shirt -- cup -- just to jog the memory...just inside the nudge!

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

Oooh, I like it, I think you might be on to something there!

[@little1942]

I discovered another reason why my units are too wide to be trimmed properly: when I place the second small square, sometimes the stitching line is not at an exact right angle. I find by taking any square (or 90 degree) ruler and positioning the smaller square so the lines are at a right angle, I don’t have the problems with “spread eagle” flying geese units. However, if you do have that problem it can be fixed! Unsew one side of the wonky unit and trim off the the piece that is too wide (using any right angle ruler. Line up the stitching line and trim the excess fabric off so you have a right angle. Then carefully resew the smaller triangle back on the unit. That should result in a perfectly straight flying geese unit that can be trimmed to the precise size. Unfortunately, I can’t post pictures to give you a visual. I hope my directions are somewhat clear so folks can figure it out.

[@Santee2918]

What’s a nudge?

[@DebTuckersStudio180Design]

The nudge is just moving the small squares in from the edge of the square 3 or 4 threads so that they aren't lined right up with the corner of the square. But we recently came up with No Nudge numbers for oversized flying geese and you can see more about that in Episode 53; Tuckerizing - Flying Geese - Tips & Tricks from the Tucker Team. The numbers can be found on my website on the Free download page.

[@cindymcfarland4686]

I find that I do need to be more careful when pressing! I remember the nudge technique but invariably my diagonal lines do not line up when trimming. I have recommended the wing clipper tool at my quilt group and I will say that after having the gals watch me trimming, they have purchased the tool. Shame on those knock-off manufacturers!