Triple Nine Patch/Single Irish Chain Quilt Block-Sampler Quilt

In the last post, I made a block from Barbara Brackman’s book American Printed Fabrics 1770-1890.  This block also came from the same book.  She calls it Triple Nine Patch.  We also know this block as a Single Irish Chain.  I have a link a quilt that was made in 1900 in browns and pinks.  There was probably other colors that was fugitive which means faded because they were not stable even if the quilt had never been washed.  The dyes were a vegetable dye called madder.  Madder grew well here in North America and different medal salts call mordants could change the color of the madder.  Madder could be dyed into pinks, red, browns, almost a black, green and lavender.

This is not a difficult block to make but you do have to keep checking your size as you sew.  I watched my quarter inch seam allowance real close and didn’t run into any problems.  In fact it came out 12 1/2 inches.  I only need to neaten it up a little with a square up ruler.  I like it when a block comes out good with as many pieces as this one had.

I chose the same colors that was featured in Barbara Brackman’s quilt.  The fashion in the last half of the 19th century was for mothers to wear brown madder calico and little girls were dressed in pinks.  Usually the pinks were double pinks.  Double pinks were printed in little tiny dots.  The closer the dots the darker the color and the farther apart the dots the lighter in color.  By the time the 1890’s rolled around madder brown prints were out of fashion.  The fabric still made it into quilts until around WWI.

To make this block you will need to cut:

One 3 1/2 inches square of light fabric for center of the block.

Twelve 2 inches squares of light fabric.  Cut 4 each from 3 different light prints.  They will be corner stones in the block.

Four  2 inches by 3 1/2 inches rectangles from one dark print.

Four 2 inches by 6 1/2 inches rectangle from a  medium print.

Four 2 inches by 9 1/2 inches rectangle from a different dark print.

It actually takes more time to cut out the fabric than to sew it together.  It goes together quickly. Just remember to press as you go and check your quarter inch seam allowance each time. To make this quilt, lay out your pieces in the order you want them.

Starting in the center, sew the 2 x 3 1/2 inches rectangle to opposite sides of the center block.   The sew on each end of the remaining two rectangles 2 x 3 1/2 inches the four 2 inch square corner stones.

Now sew all three pieces together with the center block in the middle.

Now continue to sew from the center out the same way you did the center until you have completed all the rounds. The block should measure very close to 12 1/2 inches.  Mine was just a tiny bit over so I can neaten it up.

I now have 17 blocks finished for this sampler quilt.  All total I will need 36 to make a bed size quilt.  I normally don’t make small quilts.  I will be quilting these block on my sewing machine.  So stick with me and you will see how easy it is to quilt your own bed size quilt.

This is my 100th post.

Page showing Barbara Brackman’s reproduction quilt from her book.

It is very much like the quilt from 1900.