Free Irish Chain Quilt Patterns – Find inspiration & tutorials to make your own irish chain quilt. Great for any level of quilter, scraps and quick quilts!
The irish chain was really one of the first quilts that I had made when I started quilting.
It’s a simple block, but has a complicated look about it! It’s all squares and depending on the method used for the piecing, these can be strip pieced. Strip piecing will save a lot of time!
I’ve seen a Irish chain quilts in rainbow layouts, scrappy layouts (it uses a lot of scraps!) or fabric line layouts. All of these are perfect for the Irish chain.
There is also a double Irish chain – which is super cute as well, but a little more work. Not much though. 🙂
Irish Chain Quilt Supplies:
Materials:
FABRIC: pick it up at Connecting threads or Fat Quarter Shop
Supplies you may need:
- Rotary cutter or a new sharp blade
- Cutting Mat
- Quilt Ruler
- Sewing Machine this brother is my favorite!
- Iron here or here
- Thread
- Bobbins
- Scissors
- Seam Ripper not my favorite thing to do!
Quilt Block Tutorials
Double Irish Chain Quilt Block Tutorial
Single Irish Chain Quilt Block Tutorial
Irish Chain Quilt Tutorials:
This is a scrappy version of the irish chain quilt. Love the mix of bright colors!
This one is a fun one because of the dark background! Would work great for a boys quilt as well.
This is a single Irish chain quilt – the idea of only using two colors is fun!
This Irish Chain is done using jelly roll strips. Would be a great one to swap fabrics for!
These blocks and quilt top were all sewn in between stitching another quilt. It’s almost like a few quilt!
Leaders and enders Irish Quilt
You can mix a few colors into the quilt— but still have control over them.
Great placement of the yellow and blue.
It’s amazing what happens when you fiddle with the 9 patch block, all of those white squares are part of it!
You sew the 9 patch of the Irish chain with 5 white or background fabrics.
Not quite a full irish chain, but it’s close enough and cute as well! Strip piecing makes this quilt come together quickly.
Not a full tutorial, but just using it to show off how you can put your favorites or memories in the large spaces.
My other favorite kind of quilts are ones with stars! Here are some fun star quilt tutorials:
Have you made an Irish Chain quilt before? Do you have a favorite layout or pattern design? Share it in the comments!
Becky Jorgensen is the creative quilter behind Patchwork Posse, the Patchwork Planner and her online quilt group Patchworkers Plus. You can find her patterns in books, magazines, and her quilt membership. Gather your quilting supplies, organize your sewing space, explore the process of disappearing quilt blocks, or finish a free quilt pattern. I'll help you use what you have, finish what you start and make your quilting journey fun!
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I love Irish Chain quilts and liked the Bonnie Rose quilt for featuring large scale fabrics. Although the original link posted is no longer at the Riley Blake website, anyone interested in that quilt can see the designers tutorial here:
http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/2015/02/bonnie-rose-quilt-tutorial.html
want to make a family tree quilt with a Irish chain border( about 20inches wide )would this look terrible or do you think it would be a good idea
you can draw it out on graph paper to give a preview!
yes I have made one – It was borrowed many times before I ever got it finished. I used turquoise for the background colour and scraps of many colours for the squares. Now that it is quilted and finished, it has gone on walk-about many more times. Not quite sure why, but everyone seems to think that an Irish chain should be green and white.
I can post a picture on FB site if wished