Super Simple Flying Geese Quilt Tutorial

The Flying Geese quilt block is simple, versatile and quick to make. Flying Geese can stand alone as a single block or can be used to make many other famous quilt blocks – the Sawtooth Star being one of them.

Through my research on the history of this block I came across very few facts. There are some myths, mostly about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, but not much else. My conclusion, then, is that the history behind this block is as simple as the block itself – it looked like a flying goose, and so when the early quiltmakers made a quilt using this block, they named it “Flying Geese.”

Basing a quilt block name on simple observations seemed to be a common trend. To the women of that time, these blocks symbolized what they saw in their everyday lives – Log Cabin, Snowball, Bear’s Paw and Honeycomb.

Knowing that quilt blocks symbolized commonly found objects, it’s easy for storytellers and quilt lovers to jump to the conclusion that quilts could have been used to send basic messages to escaping slaves during the Civil War. Without much proof to back this up, there is a lot of controversy over quilt codes and their use in the 19th century. Fact or fantasy aside, it’s a wonderful story even if it may be just that.

Below is a map of the Underground Railroad to give you some perspective on how far fugitives would travel to safety.​

The main reason stories about quilts being used as secret codes is not confirmed as facts is because there does not seem to be any evidence that is pre-1865. Most of the “evidence” even then is hearsay without any written first-hand accounts. Fugitive slaves and Underground Railroad participants detail many ways of conveying messages, but never mention quilts and some of the details of the “quilt code” are incompatible with symbolism in African culture. With that said, the myths about code quilts are really interesting, so let’s talk about it anyway 😉

According to folklore, settlers aiding escaped slaves would place household items, including quilts, outside their homes to convey messages to those in need. Below are a few quilt blocks and their codes.

Basic Flying Geese - Produces 1 Block

The instructions below will produce 1 - 3” x 6” finished block. To figure out the dimensions for larger or smaller blocks, simply add ½” when cutting to the desired size. See example...