Loyal Heights Irish Chain Quilt: A Free Pattern

I’ve had a number of requests for a pattern for the Loyal Heights Irish Chain quilt. It’s a very simple quilt, so I thought I’d provide the basics for it here for free.

These instructions assume you know some quilting basics.

You can download this instructions as PDF here.

The Basics

• The quilt is simply an Uneven Nine Patch block alternating with a plain block. Each block finishes at 6″ (6.5″ unfinished). You can see that more clearly in the diagram below.
• The center square on the nine patch is 3″ finished and the corners are 1.5″ finished. 
• Fabric requirements:
  • 2 5/8 yards of background fabric
  • Approximately 1 yard of print scraps or 5 FQs (I used a mix of 36 different prints)
• The layout of the quilt is 9 x 11 blocks.

Cutting

Here are the rotary cutting dimensions for the Uneven Nine Patch block (from EQ8). This is for ONE block.

You will also need 49-6.5″ x 6.5″ white (background) blocks.

TIP: Use the same background fabric in the Nine Patch blocks as in the alternating (plain) blocks. That way you can’t see where the blocks begin and end.

Strip Piecing Construction

I constructed the blocks using strip piecing–meaning that I sewed together a strip of a 2″ x WOF (width of fabric) of a print, to a 3.5″ x WOF strip of white, to another 2″ x WOF of print. Then I subcut them every 2″. That creates the top and bottom row of the nine patch. You will need 100 of these strips.

I did a similar thing for the center section of the block. I sewed together a strip of a 2″ x WOF of white, to a 3.5″ x WOF strip of a print, to another 2″ x WOF of white. Then subcut the strips every 3 .5″. You will need 50 of these strips.

Then I randomly laid out the strips into blocks and sewed them together. You need 50 Uneven Nine Patch blocks.

Quilt Top Construction

You know the rest:

• Layout the quilt top according to the diagram above
• Sew together the rows
• Sew the rows together to form the quilt top
• Baste
• Quilt as desired
• Bind (I used leftover fabric for a scrappy binding)

I hope that you find this free pattern useful! Tag me if you make one and post it on Instagram: @kristin_esser.

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