Easy Quilt Block Tutorial: the Dutchman’s Puzzle Block

I’m so excited to show you how to sew the Dutchman’s Puzzle quilt block. It’s great for little quilts and big ones, plus my easy tutorial is perfect for us to practice making flying geese.

What’s a flying goose? It’s a little rectangle unit made of three triangles.

Our Dutchman’s Puzzle block is made up of 8 flying geese that make a pretty pinwheel design in the middle.

So are you ready to get started?

We’re going to use an easy flying geese shortcut method. It’s a great technique when you need to make 4 flying geese with the same fabrics.

Each Flying Dutchman block will require two large squares and eight smaller squares. I’m making 10” blocks, but I’ll also give you the dimensions for a 12” block.

Cutting instructions for a 10” block:

• With two different main fabrics – cut 2 squares 6 1/4”

• With your background fabric – cut 8 squares 3 3/8

Cutting instructions for a 12” block:

• With two different main fabrics – cut 2 squares 7 1/4”

• With your background fabric – cut 8 squares 3 7/8

Sewing Flying Geese Units

Start by drawing a diagonal line down the middle of all the small squares. I used a frixion pen that disappears under an iron, but a pencil would be fine too. This is your cutting line, not your stitching line.

Place two small squares on top of one large square, right sides together as pictured. The smaller squares will overlap in the middle and make a continuous diagonal line.

Sew on both sides of the diagonal line with a 1/4” seam allowance.

Cut the block apart along the line. Open the block and press the seam to one side. I pressed to the print side. I think it’s a little more difficult to work with that way, but if I pressed toward my light colored Kona Snow, the seam allowances might show through.

Now place two more smaller squares on the remaining corners. Stitch on either side of the line.

Cut apart along the line and you now have 4 flying geese units that need to be pressed and trimmed!

Press the seams to one side again and trim units up nice and neat. The flying geese for a 10” block should be 3” by 5 1/2”. For a 12” square block they’ll be 3 1/2” x 6 1/2”.

How to Sew the Dutchman’s Puzzle Quilt Block (easy tutorial)

Repeat with the remaining large and small squares to make 4 more flying geese units. Sew the units together in sets with one of each. Make sure that the same unit is on the top in each set. The units on the bottom will form the pinwheel in the block.

Arrange your double flying geese units in this formation, and sew together row by row.

And that’s it!

This is a perfect time to practice chain piecing. I made over 100 flying geese for 13 squares! More coming about that later. 🙂

Happy quilting!

p.s. By the way, I have more fun flying geese sewing ideas here:

• free Superstar Quilt pattern with flying geese quilt pieces

• Easy quilt block tutorial The Variable Star Block

• Sew a gnome quilt with my free Gnome Block Pattern

• Free mini quilt pattern Ladybug Liberty

• Free mini quilt pattern Eclipse

• Flying geese in my Boy’s Sailboat Quilt

• Sew a big modern tote bag: the Flying Geese Tote