Using strip piecing - Double Irish chain

By Spotlight

Strip piecing eliminates the need to work with small individual pieces of fabric & can save lots of time when making quilts with complex blocks. The basic technique involves cutting strips, stitching them together & cutting them into units which are stitched together into blocks.

Final Result

Materials

• light, medium & 1 dark flat fat 1/4's (plain or printed)
• matching Gütermann cotton thread
• rotary cutter, mat and quilters rulers
• quilting pins, tape measure
• scissors, seam ripper
• sewing machine with 1/4” foot

Step 1

Finished block size is 7” using 3 fabrics - light, medium and dark. Two blocks make up the design for the Double Irish Chain.

Block 1 is made up of 3 strip sets.

Cut the following - from the light fabric 3 x 2” strips, from the medium fabric 7 x 2” strips and from the dark fabric 5 x 2” strips.

Step 2

Sew the sets together in the following order remembering to sew alternate rows in the opposite direction.
Set 1 - dark, medium, light, medium, dark.
Set 2 - medium, dark, medium, dark, medium.
Set 3 - light, medium, dark, medium, light.

Step 3

Place strip sets face down on the cutting mat and cut the following - 2 x 2” strips from Set 1, 2 x 2” strips from Set 2 and 1 x 2” strip from Set 3.

Step 4

Arrange strips in the following order.

Step 5

Stitch the rows together to form the block.

Step 6

Block 2 is made up of 2 strip sets.

Step 1
Cut the following - from the light fabric 2 x 5” strips and 2 x 2” strips, and from the medium fabric 2 x 2” strips.

Step 7

Step 2
Sew the sets together in the following order remembering to sew alternate rows in the opposite direction. Set 1 - medium, 5” light, medium. Set 2 - 2” light, 5” light, 2” light.

Step 8

Step 3
Place strip sets face down on the cutting mat and cut the following - 2 x 2” strips from Set 1 and 1 x 5” strip from Set 2.

Step 9

Step 4
Arrange strips in the following order.

Step 10

Step 5
Stitch the rows together to form the block.

Blocks are then joined together as shown in the diagram to form the quilt top.

Note

All fabrics should be 100% cotton, washed & pressed. 1/4” seam allowance used throughout unless otherwise indicated. Read all instructions carefully before commencing the quilt blocks.

Note

All strips are cut across the width of the fabric. When cutting the strips add 1/2” to the finished size of strip (i.e. 2” strip cut 2 1/2”). Stitch alternate rows in the opposite direction to prevent the set from distorting.

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