Last year, Road introduced Marketplace where top manufacturers in the quilting industry shared their knowledge and expertise directly with our guests. Located right in the center of the main show floor, Marketplace is the destination for innovation and inspiration on the latest and most popular quilting products. This year, there will be 6 companies in Marketplace. This post features our second vendor, American Made Brand.

Not Just Made Here, Grown Here

That’s the apt slogan of American Made Brand fabric, a division of Clothworks. From farm to fabric, the cotton is grown, spun, woven, dyed and rolled onto bolts in the U.S. People often comment on the color saturation and soft hand of the fabrics, and longarmers delight in how it quilts up! It is surprising to learn how difficult it was to bring an entirely American-made fabric to market. While our country produces huge amounts of high quality cotton, the supply chain has evolved to direct nearly all of it for immediate export to overseas mills. Meanwhile, textile manufacturing in the U.S. uses imported raw materials. It is perfectly legal for goods made from imported cotton to be labeled “Made in the U.S.A.” Clothworks’ owners, Ted and Candice Hoffman, wondered if they could do better. They had a vision of an entirely home grown fabric. Connecting the farmers to the yarn and weaving mills seemed logical, yet the process took years to achieve! AMB’s designers worked with quilters and quilt pattern makers around the country to develop a range of shades to encompass the American vision. From clear, vibrant tones to soft pastels and neutrals, AMB’s palette of 75 colors can fulfill any creative vision in this big country of ours. Thirteen of the colors are brand new for January 2016! This is American Made Brand’s first year at Road to California. On display in their booth will be a gorgeous, oversized interpretive American Flag quilt. Also featured will be a stunning new Block of the Month quilt, Empire Place, from Sassafras Lane patterns. Empire Place is a contemporary paper-pieced quilt inspired by the amazing Art Deco era buildings in Chicago. Nine different diamond block designs create this modern quilt. Guests who come by their booth can pick up their free 2 1/2″ square AMB sampler pack and can sign up to learn of upcoming AMB challenges and offers. Support the U.S. economy by asking for American Made Brand solids at local quilt shops and making your next quilt an all-American one! For more information, please visit their website.]]>

Tags: American Made Brand, Clothworks, Made in the USA, Marketplace, Modern Quilting

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2015 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Marketplace, Road 2016. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.