AIRPLANE QUILT
( aprox 54” X 72”)
12 Pieced Airplanes with Flying Geese Borders
Template copy pieces are provided in pattern. Please make an extra copy before cutting.
Skill level: Advanced Beginner
PRESS, PRESS, PRESS AT EVERY STEP!!
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Fabric Requirements – Quilt Top and Binding:
Blue/Navy airplanes - varied fabrics 3 fat quarters
Oyster White Background Fabric for planes 1 1/8 yards
Navy star Inner border ½ yard
Navy star Outer borders ½ yard
Marine blue flying geese center piece 1 5/8 yards
Oyster white flying geese outer piece 1 5/8 yards
Red sashing blocks 1/8 yard
Oyster White Background sashing borders for blocks 1 yard
Red Binding ½ yard
Cutting for Quilt Top:
1. 12 planes from 3 different fat quarters - each plane is 4 pieces (nose, wings, body, tail)
2. Oyster white sashing strips – cut 31 strips 2 ½” wide x 12” long (gives extra
allowance for trimming)
3. Red square sashing blocks – cut 20 squares 2 ½ inches each
4. Navy star Inner border - cut 7 strips 1 ½ inches wide WOF
5. Navy star Outer border – cut 7 strips 1 ½ inches wide WOF
6. 6” Flying Geese Units – cut 17 squares 7 ¼” each of Marine blue fabric and cut 68
squares 3 7/8” each of Oyster white fabric [this makes 68 flying geese unit sets using the
No Waste Method for Making Flying Geese – see page 7].
7. Red Binding – cut 6 strips 2 ½ inches wide
8. Oyster white background fabric for blocks – cut 3 WOF strips 7 ½” wide for body
backgrounds. Each strip should yield body background for 4 blocks. Cut 2 WOF strips
5½” wide for nose piece backgrounds. Each strip should yield nose piece backgrounds
for 6 blocks. See template pieces.
Fabric Requirements – Quilt Back:
We will give you measurements of the back fabric that we applied when we constructed
the quilt. We like the back of the quilt to be as beautiful as the front, and believe you
should pay as much attention to color and pattern placement that fits your quilt theme
there.
Oyster white background fabric 2 yards
Red Inner 3” border ¾ yard
Marine blue outer 6” border 1 ½ yards
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Cutting for quilt back:
1. Cut one (1) oyster white background fabric piece 44 ½” x 62 ½”
2. Cut seven (7) 3 ½” red strips for back inner border
3. Cut eight (8) 6 ½” marine blue strips for back outer border
Hint: Allow extra fabric on the outside border to make quilt top and batting assembly a
little easier in terms of centering.
Assembly (Quilt Top):
1. Plane pieces are attached to the block background fabric and sewn together to make
the plane block. See Airplane Piecing Illustrations, which will help as a guide. ¼” seam
allowance is already included in the template.
Measure and trim each plane block prior to attaching sashing strips to each side of the
block. Finished block size prior to attaching sashing is 10 ½” wide x 11 ½” tall.
2. Attach a 2½” red square block to top of 2 ½” oyster white fabric strip. Using a ¼ inch
seam allowance attach to each block side.
3. Three completed blocks are assembled across in horizontal rows first. Then the 4
completed horizontal rows are assembled top to bottom.
4. Attached inner navy border strip to each of the quilt top sides.
5. Assemble flying geese units and seam flying geese units border to each side.
6. Seam outer navy star border strip to each of the flying geese borders. This completes
the quilt top.
Assembly (Back):
1. Sew sufficient red 3 ½” strips together on a diagonal basis to form border for each
side. Attach to the Oyster White background center square on all sides. Borders are
not mitered.
2. Sew sufficient marine blue 6 ½” strips together on a diagonal basis to form border for
each side. Attach to the red border on all sides with a ¼” seam. All borders are not
mitered.
BINDING:
We use the traditional binding method. Join the cut 2 ½” red binding strips together on a
diagonal basis. Press seams open. Fold the strip in half to 1 ¼” and press the length of
the strip. Attach the binding to the assembled quilt with a ¼” seam.
Copyright 2012 – One Bee Lane, LLC 3
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AIRPLANE PIECING ILLUSTRATION
Block Squares to 10 ½” wide x 11 ½” tall -------- Finished Block is 10” x 11”
Figure 1 illustrates the pieces you will need for the main body. As this is the most
challenging piece of the block assembly, photos are included for this area. The wings
and nose pieces are attached after the body piece is assembled and are self-explanatory.
Cut pieces from template. Template for all airplane pieces and background are provided
in this pattern. Templates include ¼” seam allowance.
Figure 1-Main body and tail only
With RIGHT sides facing, attach the trapezoid template piece to the background using a
¼” seam (see Figure 1). It will feel a little off angle. Do the same for the other side of
the trapezoid. Press seams away from the trapezoid (see Figures 2, 3 and 4).
Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4
After pressing seams, the main body without the tail inserted will look like the photo in
Figure 5.
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Figure 5
Place the tail rectangle piece on top of the main body, right sides facing together. Pin in
place and mark a start and stop point ¼” beyond each end of the tail opening in the
background, (figures 6, 7, 8). We recommend Frixion erasable pens to mark points as the
markings will be removed by the heat of your iron when pressing. Stitch across from
start to stop point with ¼” seam, and clip corners as shown.
Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8
Fold the tail down and match one right side of the tail to the right side of the body. Pin
and stitch ¼” to close side, (see figures 9, 10, 11). Follow the same process for the other
side of the tail.
Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11
Success! Hardest part is over. Now on to the wings and nose piece…
Figure 12
Fold the wing (rectangle) piece in half and crease lightly to find the center point. Center
the wing above the plane body. Attach the piece using a ¼” seam.
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Attach the nose background pieces to the each side of the nose template. Press seams
toward the background fabric. Fold in half and crease a center point. Attach to the top of
the wing rectangle piece matching creased center points. The crease should ensure that
the nose and body are aligned.
Your airplane block is finished and you are ready to measure and trim to 10 ½” x 11 ½”.
Make sure you leave ¼” fabric beyond the nose of the plane. This is for the seam
allowance to attach to the sashing border strip between the blocks. If you do not leave a
¼” allowance, your plane will not have a pointy nose. Carefully measure ¼” and trim the
block.
FLYING GEESE UNITS:
Every quilter has their own preference for assembling flying geese units. However, this
is our personal favorite. This method was developed by Patti R. Anderson of
patchpieces.com and we have used it for many years. We are including it only as an aid
to assist you in assembling and cutting instructions. The fabric measurements listed on
page 2 for the flying geese units are based on this method. If you use a different
assembly method, please recalculate your fabric requirements before cutting. Fabric A
is the Marine Blue fabric and Fabric B is the Oyster White background fabric.
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All Rights Reserved
Airplane Block
Key Block (7/20 actual size)
A G B
H
D
F
G E
Templates for "Airplane Block " as 10.000 by 11.000 (inches) block, printed from EQ7!
H
C
B
F
A
