Double Irish Chain Calculations

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?

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"Emma Jane" wrote in message
roups.com...

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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--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

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.

http://www.quilterscache.com/I/IrishChainBlock.html

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

On Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:45:14 +0000, Emma Jane
m wrote:

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?

That pattern is for a single Irish chain. Double Irish Chain is at
http://www.quilterscache.com/D/DoubleIrishChainBlock.html. 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 in MN

On 3/8/2014 10:18 AM, Mary in Rock Island IL wrote:
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.

http://www.quilterscache.com/I/IrishChainBlock.html

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

On Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:45:14 +0000, Emma Jane
m wrote:

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?

On Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:45:14 +0000, Emma Jane wrote:

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?

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