Irish Chain Quilt Pattern

Part 1: A Great Beginner Quilt with Room to Grow

by Julie Baird

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Next:
Irish Chain Quilt Pattern:
Part 2: Simple Changes,
Knockout Quilts!

The Irish Chain is one of those terrific quilts for beginners—it's all strips and squares—no triangles or bias edges to deal with. No fancy rulers to buy.

Perfect for practicing your quarter inch seam allowance and rotary cutting skills. A great beginner quilt!

But it's not JUST for the beginning quilter.

Appliquers have space to add their favorite applique without a bunch of complicated, time consuming piecing.

The same goes for those with new machine embroidery designs they can't wait to stitch out. Machine and hand quilters have a place to showcase their fancy quilting.

Common Irish Chain Quilt Layouts

An Irish Chain quilt will typically be in one of the three following layouts: single, double or triple.

In the following layouts, I've left off the borders to simplify the illustrations and make it easier for you to identify each individual block. All of the illustrations were created in Electric Quilt 7.

Single Irish Chain Quilt Pattern

This quilt is made from solid squares and simple nine patches using just two fabrics—a background and a contrasting fabric. Constructed with a 3x3 grid, these quilt blocks are shown below:

Block 1

Block 2

When the two blocks are alternated in horizontal rows, they form this pattern:

Single Irish Chain
11 x 15 blocks

See how the darker fabric in the nine patch blocks forms diamond-shaped frames around the light solid squares. But since the 'chains' are only one fabric wide, the pattern is less distinct, you have to squint a bit to see it.

Click here to learn more about a single Irish Chain.

Double Irish Chain Quilt Pattern

This quilt pattern uses three fabrics—two for the 'chains' and one for the background. The blocks for this are based on a 5x5 grid and shown below.

Block 1

Block 2

At first glance it might not look like it, but the red fabric in Blocks 1 and 2 above is from the same piece, it's just how EQ7 cut the patches. (Sorry if there's any confusion! It looks more like one fabric in the example quilt pictured below.)

When these blocks are alternated in a straight or horizontal set, the result is...

Double Irish Chain
7 x 9 blocks

With the addition of a second 'chain' fabric, the design is much easier to see.

Click here to learn more about Double Irish Chains.

Triple Irish Chain Quilt Pattern

This pattern requires four fabrics— three for the 'chains' and one background fabric. Your quilt blocks are based on an 7x7 grid and look like this:

Block 1

Block 2

Assembling in horizontal rows creates a quilt that looks like this...

Triple Irish Chain
7 x 9 blocks

The chain pattern is even more dominant when it's made from three fabrics.

Click here to learn more about Triple Irish Chains.

Common Characteristics of Irish Chain Quilts

Symmetry

For this two-block, straight set quilt layout, notice that each quilt is drawn with odd numbers of blocks in both the rows and columns. This creates a symmetrical design.

Fabric Choices

Light background fabrics give this quilt a more traditional feel. A dark background can add a lot of drama and give the quilt a more contemporary look. Or reverse the lights and darks completely for a totally new look.

A limited fabric palette and/or a limited value palette emphasizes the 'chain' pattern.

Piecing Technique

Strip piecing is the most efficient way to piece this pattern, particularly with a limited fabric palette. Should you choose the 'scrappy route' to use up some of your fabric stash, the cutting and piecing takes a bit more time due to the different sizes of the fabric scraps you'll use up.

Design Opportunities

The open spaces in Block 2 of both the 'double' and 'triple' Irish Chain blocks are perfect for adding quilting designs to personalize this beginner quilt pattern.

Or use them to showcase applique or machine embroidered designs. Pre-planning is be crucial. The pattern may need to be re-drafted so that finished size of this open space matches the size of the embroidery or applique design. If you choose an on-point layout, you'll need to be sure to orient the designs correctly on the block.

With proper planning ahead of time, the Irish Chain creates a nice setting for small exchange blocks from your bee or quilt guild.

Take your Irish Chain quilt pattern to the next level...

These quilts don't need to stop at 'triple'. You can create as thick a chain as you'd like with a bit of pattern drafting.

Link to Free Quilt Block Patterns Library

Or how about instead of the standard 'double' and 'triple' Block 1's, create those blocks in a checker board with just a background fabric and a single color to create a 'Checkerboard' Irish Chain. Reverse light and dark for yet another variation.

Colorwash an Irish Chain quilt pattern. Use fabrics for the chain that blend into each other (like hand-dyed gradated fabrics or the floral prints used in other colorwash quilts). The resulting chains are not as distinct because the links of the chain blur together. A much more feminine effect I think.

With a little imagination, whether you are a beginning quilter or more experienced, there is something sure to satisfy in making an Irish Chain Quilt Pattern.

Next: Irish Chain Quilts: Part 2
Simple Changes = Knockout Quilts!

For more information on Irish Chain Quilt Patterns see: