Federal Chain Unequal 9 Patch EQ8 Tutorial

Design Your Own 9 Patch with EQ8

My new Design Your Own 9 Patch with EQ8 Class started this week.  There have been some great designs posted in our private group -- including the following:

Mary Groesbeck showcased her new blocks using the April Fabric of the Month collection from Do You EQ

Barkhau Ursula created a really fun block and placed it in an on point layout.

Sherri Edwards created 3 blocks along with quilts for all three of them.

Kim Melowsky created three blocks with only squares and rectangles and used "spring" fabrics to color her blocks.

Jeannie Schultz also had fun with the fabric of the month collection for her 9 patch blocks.

Josie Sifft was amazed at how complicate these quilts look. (But they really aren't.)

Connie Bradley Bobcik used a Medallion layout (and added some applique butterflies to her quilt).

Barkhau Ursula came up with two versions of an on point layout for her 9 patches.

Connie Bradley Bobcik experimented with a horizontal strip layout for one of her 9 patch blocks.

Carol Mayhew

Carol Mayhew

Would you like to join us?  You can learn about the class here.

Federal Chain Unequal 9 Patch Block and Quilt EQ8 Tutorial

On Facebook this week, I saw an antique quilt which was called a Federal Chain Quilt.  You can see a picture of the quilt here.

I looked and found a couple of Federal Chain blocks on BlockBase+ -- but they really didn't seem to match the antique quilt.

Lots of Published Names in BB+. Nancy Cabot was the only one who called it Federal Chain

Federal Chain by Nancy Cabot

Since the quilt didn't exactly match the Federal Chain blocks in BlockBase+, I chose to draw the block in EQ.

A close-up of the quilt, revealed a controlled scrap approach to creating the blocks for the quilt.  Each block used a different fabric to color the chain and used a second fabric around the half hexagon.

I couldn't decide if the large background hexagon pieces were part of the pieced blocks.  But in the interest of making the blocks and quilt easy to piece, I decided to include the half hexagons in each of the pieced blocks. 

When analyzing the quilt, I focused on the coloring of one of the chain.  Based on my analysis, I was able to determine that the block was based on a 9 x 9 grid.

Close-Up of Federal Chain Block found on Facebook

Federal Chain block drafted using EQ8

​Once I identified the block in the quilt, it was easy to draft using EasyDraw.  EasyDraw is like working with pen or pencil and graph paper.  Except we get to color our design with pretty fabric. 

​Since this week has been a cold one, I decided for some spring-like fabrics to warm me up.

What fabric collection would you use?

Bonus Tip:  For the border, I calculated the border size by taking the size of the center and dividing it by the number of blocks in the border.   (36" / 16 blocks = 2.25)


Often I will experiment with number of blocks in border until I find a size that looks good with my center.  And then true it up with a formal calculation.

​For the border diamond blocks, I used the default four patch block.  But for the corners, I decided to draft a block that started with an on point square.

Border Corners Drafted using EQ8

Check out the video for the full tutorial.

Here was my final quilt.  

Federal Chain Quilt Drafted using EQ8 by Kari Schell

I think those hexagon spaces are calling for some custom quilting.  What would you put in them?

I am curious what you will do with the Federal Chain block.  Post a picture in the Learning EQ Facebook group.  

​I've set up a dedicated post for your pictures.

Federal Chain Learning EQ Facebook Group Post

Make sure to learn more about the Design Your Own 9 Patch Quilt class as well.

​Happy quilting.

​Kari

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