“Handmade in the USA” has a nice sound to it, particularly as we plan for gift giving. It makes me think of a woodworker creating a beautiful table that will be an everyday joy, or a ceramics artist making a mug that feels really good in my hand with warm coffee or tea or, of course, one of our Storybook Quilts, enriching the quiet times that we spend with our children.
As someone in the handmade industry, I can testify to the care that goes into creating handmade items. Each of us is doing something we choose to do and like to do. That produces dedication to quality – and puts a bit of real love into every item we produce.
Buying handcrafted items not only directly supports American workers, but also enriches lives and often provides the stuff of heirlooms – passed on and loved for generations.
So, how do you find “handmade in the USA”? We’d love to hear your comments and know your sources. We’ll post them here.
A few of our thoughts follow.
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Online, www.stillmadeinusa.com/handcraft.htm is one good source. The owner of the site was one of the judges in our Name the Turtle Contest, held last summer. Her site is not an online store, but includes links to carefully screened sources for a range of goods, both handmade and not.
Online marketplaces include Artfire, where artisans from the USA and elsewhere offer their goods for sale (including us). Other such sites include Etsy, for example, and similar marketplaces appear fairly regularly. The advantages of these marketplaces for the customer is the ease of searching many shops at once and the fact that most require shop owners to abide by rules meant to protect the customer. (Note that not all goods on such sites are handmade and not all are made in the USA.)
Off the web, the possibilities are endless. Local crafts fairs, particularly those that are juried, are a great source of high-quality handmade goods. I almost always find some delightful new item or technique created by an imaginative artist; I also often find inspiration for my own work. Online listings of crafts fairs, and whether they are juried, include this one, for example: http://festivalnet.com/index.html
Church fairs offer another great hunting ground for locally handmade goods, from hand-knitted baby booties to gorgeous quilts, small woodcrafts and more. I always enter the quilt raffles and dream about winning, although I never have.
Most crafts and church fairs are the same weekend each year, so if you find one you like, mark it on next year’s calendar!
Around the country, craftspeople and artisans often concentrate in particular geographic areas – by design or by chance — sharing ideas and offering a number of shops easily visited in a day or so. Some of these are supported by far-sighted organizations, such as this one http://www.handmadeinamerica.org, which understand the important role of handmade in the economy and the culture of this (or any) country.
Remember us, please, as you shop for handmade. Storybook Quilts are entirely original and made entirely by hand in the USA with American-made materials and love.
A Storybook Quilt
This had to be the largest snowman in my life. I helped a bit with the first ball, but after that was relegated to documenting his growth. He looked a bit like Charles DeGaulle when he was done!
