Our Story
From Machines & Technology to Quilting, Friendship and Community
Ready Set Quilt wasn't born from a lifelong dream of owning a quilt shop. It grew from family, an unexpected love of quilting, and a career spent understanding machines and solving problems.
Tom DeMoss was born in Kentucky and raised in Indiana. After earning a degree in Industrial Electronics, he began his career as a biomedical technician and later became the lead branch technician for a medical equipment and rental company. He spent the majority of his career with Toyota Logistics, where his work included quality improvement projects and finding better ways to solve problems.
That technical background would eventually prove to be a perfect fit for something Tom never expected—quilting.
How Quilting Entered the Picture
Marinetta had been sewing for many years, but quilting became part of Tom’s life when she made a quilt top for their grandchildren. Tom took an interest in finishing the quilt, and that first experience opened the door to machine quilting.
Before long, a mid-arm quilting machine entered the picture, and Tom discovered that his mechanical and technical background translated naturally to quilting machines. He enjoyed understanding how the machines worked, learning what they could do, and most of all, actually quilting.
What started as helping finish a family quilt soon became a genuine passion. Tom began machine quilting, piecing quilts of his own and becoming more involved in the quilting community.
A Move to Texas - and a New Direction
Family played a big part in Tom and Marinetta’s decision to move to Texas. With grandchildren and other family in Texas, the move gave them an opportunity to be much closer and spend more time together.
After the move, Tom initially expected to continue his career with Toyota. When that opportunity didn’t develop as planned, a longtime friend and mentor, Betty Cummings of Village Mercantile in Boonville, Indiana, encouraged him to consider a different direction. Knowing Tom’s technical background and growing passion for quilting, Betty suggested he look into selling the INNOVA Longarm Quilting machines.
Tom began researching longarm manufacturers, looking closely at the different machines, how they were built and the companies standing behind them. That search led him directly to the INNOVA Longarms.
At the Houston Quilt Show, Tom made the connections that would eventually lead to becoming a subdealer with Jo’s Quilting Studio in Richmond, Texas. What started as an opportunity to represent a longarm company was becoming the beginning of something much bigger.
The Beginning of Ready Set Quilt
What began as a longarm dealership gradually grew into something much more. Tom’s experience as an INNOVA subdealer gave him the opportunity to work directly with quilters—helping them choose machines, learning what they needed and providing the training and support that continue long after a machine is delivered.
Eventually, Tom established Ready Set Quilt as an independent INNOVA dealer serving North Texas. Today, Ready Set Quilt is an INNOVA Platinum Dealer, providing longarm sales, installation, service and training.
But the business didn’t stop with longarms. Ready Set Quilt grew into a working quilt shop in Plano, with wideback fabrics, thread, sewing machines, classes and Open Sew. Along the way, something else happened: customers became friends, quilters began helping other quilters, and the shop developed into the kind of place where people are just as welcome to stop in and visit as they are to shop.
That spirit is at the heart of Ready Set Quilt today—and the reason behind the words: "Where Quilters Become Friends".
Come See What Ready Set Quilt Is All About
Ready Set Quilt is more than a place to buy fabric or find your next quilting machine. It’s a place to learn, create, ask questions, share ideas and spend time with people who enjoy quilting as much as you do.
Whether you’re an experienced quilter or just getting started, we’d love to have you stop by and become part of our quilting family.