America's Quilting History

The Irish Chain Quilt ~ Irish or Not?

The cover of my well worn pattern book, "Irish Chain in a day - Single and Double", displays a lovely Irish cottage with an Irish Chain quilt in front. It brings to mind coziness of distant times and places. But there is some uncertainty whether the picture could be an example of another romantic myth or if the pattern truly came from Ireland.

Current documentation on the Irish Chain quilt pattern indicates that it was developed in America in the early 1800s. Quilt historian, Barbara Brackman, states that 1814 is the earliest known date on an Irish Chain quilt. She goes on to say, "Dated examples appear consistently across the decades, indicating the design's popularity throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." ¹ You can view an Irish Chain Quilt, made about 1870, at Shelly Zegart: 19th century quilts.

But little is certain in regards to the history of quilt patterns and there is now some evidence that the seeds of the pattern originated in Ireland. The book, "West Virginia Quilts and Quiltmakers", pictures this quilt. The above photograph shows a small section of this quilt. It was brought to America from Ireland that is very similar to an Irish Chain. It is made much like a traditional single Irish Chain quilt but done on point making the chains appear in the shape of squares rather than diamonds. It was made about 1805 and was stitched with Irish linen thread. The quilting was done in a common Irish design. This quilt was brought to West Virginia from Ireland when the maker, Margaret Kee, immigrated here in 1807.² Later quilts Irish Chain quilts have been recorded in Ireland sometimes by the name "Mosaic" or "American Chain".

Barbara Brackman suggests that the Irish Chain pattern might have been inspired by a similar weaving pattern.¹ By the second half of the 18th century Itinerant weavers were know to weave elaborate double-weave patterns done in geometric patterns including the Irish Chain.³

I suspect one of the reasons that the Irish Chain pattern has been so popular over the years is that it leaves a nice solid space between the chains to display the maker's skills at quilting. In some cases the quilter has put a different quilted design in each solid space. There are other ways the space has been used as well. The book, "Kansas Quilts and Quilters", displays two interesting Irish Chain quilts by Mennonite quilters. One made in 1880 has appliquéd flowers within a sunburst pattern.⁴ An intriguing thing about this quilt is that a mixture of hand and machine piecing, applique and quilting was used. A second Mennonite quilt shown (inscribed 1876) has the traditional circular feathered quilting in the open spaces while the border is decorated with appliquéd leaves.⁵ Another use for the spaces between the chains has been the writing of sayings and signatures for an autograph quilt. "Quiltmaking in America: Beyond the Myths", includes a picture of an 1888 quilt made to raise money for church furniture. The amount of money donated and the name of each donor is written on the quilt.⁶

The above modern day Irish Chain baby quilt use the areas within the chains to show off some of the delightful children's novelty fabrics that can be found today. Add the fact that an Irish Chain quilt is fairly easy to piece together we can see why it is one of the oldest and most popular quilt patterns.

References:

¹ p168, "Clues in the Calico", by Barbara Brackman

² pp40-41, "West Virginia Quilts and Quiltmakers", by Fawn Valentine

³ webpage, "Coverlets, Dated and Otherwise"

⁴ p126 and ⁵ p136 "Kansas Quilts and Quilters" by Brackman, Chinn, Davis & Thompson

⁶ p159 "Quiltmaking in America: Beyond the Myths" Laurel Horton (editor)

Two examples of Irish Chain quilts can be found in the catalog titled "Irish Patchwork".It was assembled by Alex Meldrum, introduced by Laura Jones and Sponsored by Allied Irish Banks, Kilkenny Design Workshops, 1979. One made in