American Made Brand « The Backroads to Road to California

Meet Road 2016 Marketplace Vendor: American Made Brand

Wednesday, December 30th, 2015

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
Posted in Marketplace, Road 2016 | 2 Comments »

Road 2016 Tiny Quilt Challenge

Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

Juried by American Made Brand, the Tiny Quilt Challenge will have its debut at Road to California 2016 as a Special Exhibit.

The tiny house movement was in the back of the jurists minds when they were brainstorming for this challenge. In the end, American Made Brand wanted the Tiny Quilt Challenge to be accessible to as many quilters as possible. Knowing that it is very time-consuming to create large works, they felt the smaller dimensions for the finished quilts would be enticing. They also hoped to excite junior sewists to enter the challenge.

There is no theme to this challenge other than the size. Quilts are to be no larger than 15” x 15”, have attached to the back a 4″ hanging sleeve along with a permanent label with the maker’s name and address and be made from any of the 62 American Made Brand cotton solids.

Any technique may be used (piecing, appliqué, embroidery, photo transfer, manipulated fabric, etc.) and quilters can enter as many quilts as they wish. However, all quilts must be an original design. No quilt entered may have been published in patterns, books, calendars, magazines, newsletters, websites, blogs or any other form of publication prior to September 2015. Entries will be accepted online until the deadline of September 15, 2015.

The Tiny Quilt Challenge was announced in May. American Made Brand is getting the word out about the challenge in several ways. They started by giving out Tiny Quilt Challenge posters to the many US quilt shops that carry the American Made Brand and they created artcards for shops to hand out to their customers. American Made Brand has also emailed thousands of enthusiastic AMB fans that they met at QuiltCon as well as quilters who entered their Farm to Fabric Challenge or who participated in their AMB Blog Tour last summer. Lastly, they are advertising in a variety of quilting magazines as well as online and via magazines’ e-newsletters.

Judging will be done by American Made Brand in-house staff with winners notified by October 1, 2015. Awards will be given in four categories: Pieced, Applique, Quilting, and Junior Quilter. The top three winners in each category will receive:

1st Place: 1 yard each of the 62 colors of American Made Brand Cotton Solids, a color card and an AMB tote bag

2nd Place: 62 fat quarters – 1 each of the American Made Brand Cotton Solids, a color card and an AMB tote bag

3rd Place: 31 fat quarters of American Made Brand Cotton Solids, a color card and an AMB tote bag

In addition, one Best of Show grand prize winner will receive an airline ticket plus 2 nights accommodation to see the Tiny Challenge exhibit debut in Ontario, California at Road to California 2016!

Great Prizes — Great Challenge

What better way to spend the dog days of summer than by making a tiny quilt or two!!

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Tags: American Made Brand, Applique, Junior Quilter, Junior Sewists, Pieced Quilts, Prizes, Tiny Quilt Challenge
Posted in Road 2016 Challenge, Special Quilt Exhibits | No Comments »

Posts Tagged ‘American Made Brand’

Meet Road 2016 Marketplace Vendor: American Made Brand

Road 2016 Tiny Quilt Challenge