Irish Chain, but make it Scrappy

I *love* an Irish Chain quilt. I love how simple and sweet they are. I love how timeless they've been and will remain. I love that I can make one for a friend and they're sure to like it, no matter their style. I love that they can read vintage or modern. I just love them! 

One of my favorites in recent years is the version Heather Ross shared with her Country Mouse fabrics for Windham Fabrics. Oh my word it lives on in my mind and it's basically what I want every quilt to be.

I mean, it's the perfect quilt! The gingham and tiny florals and then the super fun binding. I just love it. I made a two-color Irish Chain a few years back with a floral from Hobby Lobby that gave some Liberty vibes, and I still love that quilt!

Also, please note the cute little geese! This was a Mabel Tan fabric I got from Hawthorne Supply years ago (maybe late 2019??) so I'm not sure if you can still find it. But if you can!!! So cute. This was the quilt that spurred me on to write up a free tutorial (which later became the full pattern) because it was too fun not to share how to make your own. And it's such a good beginner project!

And then after making a few classic, two-color versions, I wanted to try out a scrappy one with some of my favorite OG Cotton and Steel prints (and a few other fun stash busters added in), and dare I say I loved it even more?? It was just such a fun quilt! Maybe because I actually used fabrics I'd been hoarding?? I don't know, but it was fun to make and fun to see finished! And it's kind of a like an "eye spy" quilt with all the fun little prints!

There are lots of ways you can make an Irish Chain scrappy using my free pattern, the easiest of which is just using a variety of 2.5" strips! You need 20 in all for the throw, so you can use half a jelly roll, but it's also possible to use fat quarters! If you opt for a fat quarter version, you just need to double the number of 2.5" strips and make it (40) 2.5"x 21" strips instead. (Here's a printable if it's easier to make sense of.)

Oftentimes, if I'm making a scrappy Irish Chain with fat quarters, I'll opt to use more than the minimum number of fat quarters needed to give it a scrappier look. A single fat quarter will yield (7) 2.5"x 21" strips, so really you only need six FQs to make a scrappy Irish Chain. But I usually go for 8-10 fabrics instead. 

Also, I recently really went for it with a gingham background + jelly roll Irish Chain, and until it came together, I really wasn't sure I'd like the outcome. It felt bold and maybe a bit too busy, but I often play it safe with my combos and I really wanted to just go for it and see what happened! As I was sewing, though, I decided to ground all of the nine patches with the darkest fabric in the roll. I thought maybe it would alleviate some of the busy-ness. I think it really worked!

I love the possibilities this make has brought to mind for me. I'm envisioning the cutest Christmas quilt with a red where the black squares are! And maybe a light grey gingham?? I don't know, but my wheels are turning! 

I hope yours are, too! If you haven't make an Irish chain, don't wait! There's something so simple and wonderful about these old patterns. And if you need a pattern, you can find my freebie here!