I found How to Make an American Quilt, a 25 year old gem, on Netflix in a queue of films directed by women. I remember loving it, wanting more films like it, and holding it as an example of what I wanted movies to be. I decided to watch it again to see how it held up all these years later. Show How to Make an American Quilt was directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse. She’s also directed The Dressmaker, A Thousand Acres, Proof, and episodic television. For such a gifted writer and director, her resume should be 10 times longer than it is. That she managed to get this almost-all-women film made in 1995 is amazing.  How to Make an American Quilt is ostensibly about Finn (Winona Ryder). She spends a summer with her grandmother to finish her Master’s thesis and decide if she will accept Sam’s (Dermot Mulroney) proposal. To me, the film was about the magnificent group of women quilters who worked in Finn’s grandmother’s home. Their lives and stories were what made the film. Granted, 25 years ago most of the tales were about love and romance and family life. But the were stories about women, not men. The cast included Kate Capshaw, Ellen Burstyn, Anne Bancroft, Maya Angelou, Alfre Woodard, Lois Smith, Jean Simmons, and Kate Nelligan. Playing some of the younger versions of these women were Samantha Mathis, Joanna Going, María Celedonio, Claire Danes, and Alicia Goranson. Also featured in other parts were Esther Rolle and Holland Taylor. What a cast! All those women together in a film was revolutionary. It was balm for my soul when I saw it. Women telling women’s stories. Pure magic. It impressed me so much I mentioned it in my personal manifesto. There have been other films and TV shows since then that featured large ensemble casts of women. I’ve loved all of them, too. Yet this film still makes me smile, still makes me feel good. After 25 years have gone by, the film and I are both a bit creaky with age. Even so, I still loved it. The trailer is so old-fashioned it’s almost funny. Did you see this film years ago? Think you might look it up now on Netflix and watch it? A movie all about women, from director Jocelyn Moorhouse to the protagonists, Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Nelligan, Jean Simmons, Maya Angelou, but the list does not end here because the story unfolds through the lives of the protagonists from adolescence , played by other actresses, to a later age and the time of the story narrated in the movie.
Poster of the original film
From the novel, written by a woman !, Withney Otto, was made a movie version of enormous success in the USA. Unfortunately, there is no translation and book in Italian, as it would be interesting. In addition to the stories of the protagonists, all compelling, it is full of instructions and advice on Quilting with many practical sewing tips to make quilts. Elettra Caporello, translator and adapter of dialogues that I know well, a spearhead, expert like few others in the profession of dubbing, had no other choice. In 1995, we talk about 25 years ago, in Italy we knew almost nothing of what we naturally call Quilting and quilt; there was the “trapunto” and the “trapunta” of italica, classic tradition, which resembles it but is quite different. You will not find the English terminology that unites us today and makes us speak a single language…
It is a very personal collective Quilt in Baltimore style, not very courtly but colorful and perfect. Each block represents a memory-remembrance of each individual author. The plot. Finn, a student in Berkeley, spends the summer in the home of her grandmother Hy and her great-aunt Glady Joe, in California. Her grandmother’s house, surrounded by orange groves, is a perfect peaceful refuge for Finn who has to complete her thesis on rites of female craftsmanship in tribal cultures. But the real reason is to reflect on Sam’s marriage proposal. The two landladies, who have had various experiences in their life, will help her decide wisely. In their beautiful home Hy and Glady Joe host the “Quilt Circle”, formed by a group of women who will work with needle and thread on the “Finn wedding quilt”. Each block will tell a personal story, central to the life of each of them. Betrayals, happiness, escapes, broken hearts. Each story is “unique” as the protagonists are: there is Anna, the imposing black woman who is “master of quilts”, heir and witness of the time of slavery; Marianna, her daughter, romantic and sophisticated, who comes from Paris; Em, wife aged alongside a husband, a loyal artist; there is Sofia, and the others. The life of each is remembered through flash-backs that alternate with the work sessions first on the blocks and then in the end, when they are all gathered around the large double blanket to be quilted.
In the end love, the one with the capital L,will win over everything, and the young Finn, despite her doubts, will run to meet her future husband wearing the large blanket under which she will welcome Sam in a “quilty” embrace.
It is a beautiful movie, perhaps a little dated, but to be revisited. I have reviewed it with great pleasure appreciating some details of the stories in addition to the images of the objects collected and loved (thimbles, yo-yo, etc.). I invite you to watch it or see it again if you have already, you will have fun and love it too. Tullia Ferrero, June 2020 How do you make American quilts?How to Make an American Quilt is a 1995 American drama film based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Whitney Otto. Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, the film features Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Nelligan and Alfre Woodard. It also marked Jared Leto's film debut.
What is the movie How do you make an American quilt about?Soon-to-be-wed graduate student Finn Dodd (Winona Ryder) develops cold feet when she suspects her fiancé is cheating on her. In order to clear her head, Finn visits her grandmother, Hy (Ellen Burstyn), and great aunt, Glady Joe Cleary (Anne Bancroft), in Grasse, Calif. There, Finn learns that Hy and Glady Joe are members of a group of passionate quilters, and over the course of her visit she is regaled with tales of love and life by women who have collected rich experiences and much wisdom.How to Make an American Quilt / Film synopsisnull
Who made the quilt in How Do You Make An American Quilt?McCormick hired Costa Mesa quilt artist Christine Dabbs to fashion the coverlet, which was meant as Finn's baby quilt. “I was told that they needed two quilt tops"--one of which was to be stone-washed so that it would look old--"and they gave me 60 days to complete them,” Dabbs says.
How does making an American Quilt end?When her mother tells her that she is reconciling with her father, she quickly realizes that there's hope for her yet. The quilt is finished, and taking with her the heartfelt wishes of her grandma's friends, she runs back to Sam, ready to start a life with him anew.
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What happens in How Do You Make An American Quilt?
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