How would you go about planning a double Irish chain quilt around 12" quilt blocks? I am kind of working backwards here. I purchased these great cross-stitched 12" blocks from Ebay. I want to make a double Irish chain quilt around them, but I can't find instructions anywhere for 12" blocks. I want to do strip piecing, but I can't figure it out. I've tried graph paper, and I just can't seem to get it to work out.
Does anyone know of a formula or a resource I can refer to?
How would you go about planning a double Irish chain quilt around 12" quilt blocks? I am kind of working backwards here. I purchased these great cross-stitched 12" blocks from Ebay. I want to make a double Irish chain quilt around them, but I can't find instructions anywhere for 12" blocks. I want to do strip piecing, but I can't figure it out. I've tried graph paper, and I just can't seem to get it to work out.
Does anyone know of a formula or a resource I can refer to?
I can't help you out there, but I hope you will come back to this group more often! Good luck with this! Barbara in Florida
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Hi Emma Jane,
I looked at Quilters Cache to see how they make an Irish Chain. It looks like their plain squares are 6 inches with 2.5 inch strips for making up the 9 patches.
This makes me think your 9 patches should be 12 inches finshed. This means you are using 4.5 inch strips to make them.
Does that work on your graph paper?
And come back to let us know how the project is going.
Mary
That pattern is for a single Irish chain. Double Irish Chain is at . Do your blocks measure 12" unfinished or are they at least 12-1/2 inches, to allow for seams? I assume the embroidery is centered on the blocks. How much margin is there around the embroidery? I think the first thing to do is to make sure your blocks are all square and the same size. Then go from there to calculate measurements for the pieced blocks. If there is enough "margin" you may want to trim the blocks to a size that makes the math easier. Figure out the finished measurements for each piece. Then add 1/2 inch for seams.
Are you sure you want double Irish chain? Single Irish chain would be easier? :-)
Julia > Hi Emma Jane,
Irish chain is not my go-to pattern for anything, though I have done some. While there are some variations, it is easiest to think of the two base blocks for the pattern as being on a 5x5 grid. If you look at the block with the 9 patch in the middle, it is easy to see that grid. When you apply the same grid to the other block you will see that the math becomes much much simpler.
The way I do a double Irish, If I started out with 12 inch blocks (plus seam allowance) for the open areas I would finish with 20 inch blocks. You have to put the little squares in the corners which necessitates adding strips to the sides. Your strips and squares would be 4 inches wide (finished, so 4 1/2 for cutting). That would give you 4 blocks by 4 blocks (16 total) for an 80 inch square quilt, or 5x5 (25 total)for a more visually pattern friendly layout making a 100 inch top. A 4x4 would use 8 of your embroidered blocks, a 5x5 would use 13 or 12 depending on how you arranged them.
Julia is absolutely right about making sure your embroidered squares are square and to measure. It is a miserable thing to discover that some of your pieces are wonky after you start sewing.
NightMist
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