New Charity Quilt Pattern: Irish Chain Variation

Last month one of the co-chairs of PCQ's Community Service Committee asked me to help make a small Irish Chain quilt and draft the pattern so we could use it for Community Service sew days. The intention is to use up the massive stash of fabrics languishing in the club's cabinets. 

A true Irish Chain design has a lot of negative space, usually very light, which makes the chains pop. We don't have much in the way of very light fabrics. We do have some white/beige/ivory pre-cut 2-1/2" strips.  We also have a few pieces tucked away from which we could cut more strips or squares, but we value it for the contrast it provides too much to use it all up in one or two quilts. So, my challenge was to come up with something that still has the Irish Chain look but uses something other than the background fabric in the alternate squares. 

EQ8 to the rescue to start playing with ideas. What I learned while working in EQ is that the more closely the alternate squares match the background in value, the more the chain effect stands out. The more the alternate squares contrast with the background, the more the pattern looks like a nine patch variation, Win-win! 

Then we raided the fabric bins. This is the first top Teri and I made to introduce the project at the sew day. It's 42-1/2", wheelchair size for Hospice or possibly baby quilt size. Our members prefer to make smaller charity quilts. 

This is a scrappy version, all from the club's stash. Many dark blue, green, olive and brown fabrics were used for the chains, and several whites, off-whites, and creams for the background. Four watery novelty prints, related by theme and color, worked for the alternate squares, although the dark part of the ombre one is darker than I would have preferred.

In order to test the pattern, I made another version in a curated palette as well. Good thing I did, I had to make some corrections. EQ to the rescue once again! Here's my curated version, all fabrics from my personal stash. If the alternate squares are light, even a medium (as opposed to a dark) can stand out well enough for the chain effect. 

The corrected pattern has been made available to all the PCQuilters who want it. I will add it to the Free Charity Patterns tab above. 

We have an overabundance of Floral prints and Novelty prints. We're hoping that this pattern for small quilts will prompt our members to use them up. Plus, when we get the new long arm machine we'll all have to be trained on it, and the trainers want some smallish charity quilts for us to learn on. These two will be available for that. I just have to make a backing for the blue and white one. 

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts. This definitely counts as a finish, or two or three if you count the pattern as well.