I want to make a king size quilt top in irish chain, I like the triple chain, but after drawing it out it looks OFF. the block sizes are just to small for a quilt of that size, I think I need to enlarge the squares from 2 1/2 to at LEAST double that to get the right scale.

then I got to thinking that most patterns only look REALLY GOOD when its a full/queen or crib/baby size.
some patterns just look TERRIBLE when its twin or king! is it just me? or do you have this trouble also? what do you do with your king size quilts????

I think it comes down to proportions -- not only block size, but also color and intricacy of design. I have seen many, many patterns that work well in smaller quilts. It may be that the patterns appealing most to you work best in king size quilts. In general, I think the smaller and more intricate block patterns work better in smaller quilts and large quilts benefit from larger blocks.

So much depends on the individual pattern. I do agree that an Irish Chain pattern in a king size quilt will look better with larger pieces than the same pattern in a crib quilt. About the largest block size I have used for that in a crib quilt was 2-1/2 inches finishes, I think. I can see why you would want to double that size for king size.

I think a five-inch block in an Irish chain would look kind of clunky.

I made a king-sized quilt with two-inch squares (finished - 2.5 cut pieces) - it's a zig-zag design - looks pretty good to me. (It's in transit to be quilted now.)

I was thinking the same thing, that the 5-inch blocks might look a bit overly large. That said, I tend to gravitate toward smaller blocks and I've made a king sized quilt with 2.5-inch squares that looked wonderful. It depends on the pattern and fabrics used as to whether it looks good or not. And personal preference. If you like the bigger blocks, work up a couple of blocks and set them together and see what you think. If you don't like it, then you can use those to make a pillow and use smaller blocks for the quilt. Or you could use them on the back, sort of a fancy label. Or you may find you love the larger look and then you've already got some of the blocks made. :wink:

I got to thinking about this and realized that the colors and degree of contrast between the fabrics have just as great an impact as the block size. I remember a large quilt with a lovely Irish Chain done in small squares; only two fabrics were used and the contrast balance between them was perfect.

You can try drawing it out bigger in icrements and see how you like the quilt. A lot depends on the look YOU are going for. :D :D :D

oh! its soooo nice to get more opinions! my mind really gets to me sometimes :roll:

I bought three main fabrics, a white floral with birds, pink stripe, and brown viney thing. I bought more accent colors but am leaning to just using the three colors, maybe with another color added at the intersections and border all around????? just thinking....

sometimes I think to much! just cut the fabric already! you really cant tell until you try sometimes.

I think I will decide how big I would like the white sections to be, how manyXhow many and scale the other blocks to fit. we dont want it to look to clunky or to small the pattern gets lost.

why do some projects turn into PROJECTS????

i think it's the size of the entire block that's important, not the number of pieces that it takes to make the block. in my opinion, a king bed looks good with a block (repeat) size of at least 8", unless it's a postage stamp or something very similar.
if the pattern is made entirely of borders, as in an outward going medallion, those pieces should be a little larger also, or the pieces get lost in the sauce. there's no place for your eye to rest.

I have a double Irish chain that is a king size. I did have to increase the size of the blocks for it to work right.

You might consider graphing it or EQing it to get the design to come out right for the size quilt you want to make it.