Irish Chain Quilt
 

Hi, I was wondering if there is anyone on this board that has made an Irish Chain quilt and if so, how did you quilt it? I was thinking of SID. Looking for suggestions. Thanks, Mary

My first quilt was a TIC. I backed it with a blanket, so it didn't need close quilting; I SID, in a sort of pattern. My eyes are no longer as good as they used to be (my stitches tend to float out of the ditches), so nowadays, I'd probably use echo stitching. :p

My first was a double irish chain. I did a SITD for the chains and then did a variety of flower motifs in the plain blocks. It was hand quilted - not machine - FWIW.

I just finished a double Irish chain. I cross hatched mine except the border. The borders are plain fabric so I did a simple cable type thing.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...n-t197389.html

My first bed quilt was a double Irish chain. I stitched diagonally along each chain - down the middle of the squares. And then I stitched a design in the blank squares. Stars in my case, to pick up the design on my backing fabric.

Ive made a few stt in the ditch. For my sis in the larger block i did anchors it was a baty theme.
For sis in law irish i did shamrocks. I try t9 quilt what the theme is. I quilt by hand.

I meander - that's about all I ever do :)

I quilted feathers along the dark part of the chain[ATTACH=CONFIG]361639[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]361643[/ATTACH]and used little felt markers for a motif in the white areas. I know you can't really see from the pictures, but it turned out really nice. I drew it all on paper first so I could see which way my feathers were turned. They flowed out from the middle, if I remember correctly.

Oh, please don't SID it! Double Irish Chain blocks have marvelous centers for quilt designs, and the chains can be quilted - by hand OR machine - on the diagonal. Stitching in the ditch is hard to do accurately anyway, some stitches seem to jump outside that ditch no matter how careful one tries to be. And, with all the work that quilting is, I'd want my stitches to be seen, certainly!

Let yourself use this as a design opportunity!

Jan in VA

There are SO many ditches in an Irish chain. And quilting in them would add little of interest to the quilt. I would recommend another pattern, something special in the centers of the chains, or just wavy lines, spirals, leaves, feathers - any kind of design could look nice. Irish chain is such a beautiful quilt.