How to Make an American Quilt

Finn Dodd, a graduate student, is engaged to be married but begins to have doubts and retreats to the California home of her grandmother, Hy, and great-aunt, Glady Joe. There she finds a group of older women who meet to make quilts, and through their stories of love, marriage and disappointment, she is pushed to sort out what she wants for herself.

The film was directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, arriving between her debut Proof and her later features The Dressmaker and The Fabulous Four, from a screenplay by Jane Anderson. Winona Ryder plays Finn, with Anne Bancroft and Ellen Burstyn as the two older relatives, and Kate Nelligan, Jean Simmons and Maya Angelou among the women in the quilting circle. Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment produced it on a budget of about 10 million dollars, and it took roughly 41 million dollars worldwide, a solid return.

It is a drama with romantic elements. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from over twelve thousand votes, and on TMDB 6.4 from a much smaller number, so audiences are broadly lukewarm, though not hostile. A critics' score of 6 out of 10 from 35 reviews sits close to those audience figures.