In a Discussion about Quilts and the TV on MyQuiltPlace, Garnie P. Bethea said:
“Watching Gunsmoke and counting how many quilts I see. All are beautiful. Just wish they would leave them on long enough to really see them. Even the wallpaper and rugs look like quilts. Do I have quilting on the brain?”
Of course you do, Garnie. So do we!
It’s a great question, and a challenge:
What movies or television programs have quilts in a scene?
I’m thinking Elaine in Seinfeld had a quilt behind her bed on the wall.
In 50 First Dates, you can’t miss the Hawaiian quilt.
More movie quilts that come to mind are You’ve Got Mail, when Meg Ryan is sick and Tom Hanks drops by. (One of my favorites. The movie, that is!) Several quilts have been spotted in Nanny McPhee; of course, children in bed in almost any Disney movie are comforted by a quilt!
How about Holiday Inn, and The Christmas Shoes? And Gone With the Wind. (When was the last time you watched those classics?)
Pepper Cory mentioned “Quilts Seen in Movies” in her Quilt Flap blog. She admired National Velvet’s historically correct quilt, but took special notice of the quilts in Coal Miner’s Daughter and the TV movie, Sarah, Plain and Tall. They were wrong for their time! This spawns a secondary list: Out of Sync Movie Quilts (Quilt styles and fabrics that came later than the movie!)
What quilt-sightings can you add? Comment and we’ll keep a running list!
Quilts Seen in Movies and TV (Updated 11/18/2013….thanks for all the great responses, here and on the American Quilter’s Society Facebook page! Keep ’em coming, anytime you see one!)
Count: 117 and climbing!
2 Broke Girls
50 First Dates
Abba (the movie)
Addams Family
All’s Fair in Love
All Mine to Give
The Americans
The Amish Murders
Andy Griffith Show
Angel and the Bad Man
Anne of Green Gables
Army Wives
As Time Goes By
Baby Boom
The Babymaker
Barney’s Big Adventure
Best in Show
The Beverly Hillbillies
Bicentennial Man
Big Bang Theory
Big Valley
The Birdcage
Bogus
Bonanza
The Bridges of Madison County
Buried Alive
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Chisum
The Christmas Shoes
Christmas with the Kranks
Christy
Coal Miner’s Daughter
Cold Mountain
Constantine
Criminal Minds “All that Remains”
Dances With Wolves
Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Descendants
Dexter
Doc Hollywood
Downton Abbey
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Everybody Loves Raymond
Everyday Use
The Family Stone
Firefly
The Firm
Five Easy Pieces
Forrest Gump
Friendly Persuasion
Friends
Gilmore Girls
Gone With the Wind
Grapes of Wrath
The Great American Quilt Revival
The Green Lantern
Groundhog Day
Gunsmoke
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
Hawaii 5-0
Holiday Inn
Home Alone
Homeland
The Horse Whisperer
How to Make an American Quilt
I Love Lucy
It Happened One Night
Lassie comes Home
Law and Order: Criminal Intent
Law and Order: SVU
Lincoln
Little House on the Prairie
Little Women
Longmire
Love Comes Softly series
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Must Love Dogs
Nanny McPhee
Nashville
National Velvet
Nell
Nights in Rodanthe
Once Upon a Time (Modern Snow White)
Pollyanna
Pride and Prejudice
The Princess and the Frog
The Proposal
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
The Rainmaker
Rhoda
Rules of Engagement (t-shirt quilt episode)
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Saratoga Trunk
Seinfeld
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Sergeant York
Shane
Sleepy Hollow
Sssssss
Stagecoach
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek IX: Insurrection
Steel Magnolias
Stepmom
Switchback
Terms of Endearment
Under the Dome
Wagon Train
The Walking Dead
The Waltons
When Harry Met Sally
Where the Red Fern Grows
Witness
Wizard of Oz
You’ve Got Mail
The Young and the Restless
…..
Disney movies
Many Hallmark movies
Most Lifetime movies
Most of The Three Stooges movies
and a Progressive ad, with three bears in a cabin.
Out of Sync Movie Quilts
Coal Miner’s Daughter
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Little House on the Prairie (some are depression-era quilts)
I’ll be gathering some great behind-the-scenes information about the quilters who provide movie quilts. Watch for it in a near-future blog! -AH
Thanks to gardenweb.com forums for some hints!
I have seen several in The Waltons!
Thanks, Carol! Of course! I’ll add that show to the list.
In the old TV show Big Valley they used the same quilt over and over in different episodes. It looks like it might be a “cheater cloth” quilt, where the fabric is printed to look like an appliqué quilt.
At the end of the movie Switchback (suspense, Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover) there is a child’s. quilt.
In the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Jane Powell wears two different dresses that look like they’re made out of quilts. One looks like a crazy quilt, the other looks like some kind of star quilt.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers has three different quilts. On of the brides has a dress that is a quilt block.
An obvious movie-How To Make An American Quilt!! Series-Little House On The Prairie
Don’t forget my favourite show …… Little House on the Prairie has quilts in almost every episode! 🙂
The children in the show “Dexter” always slept under quilts.
Stepmom withSusan sarandon and Julia Roberts
I’ve seen quilts on Law and Order:SVU, Law and Order: Criminal Intent. They have been displayed on the walls. Also have seen quilts on the new Hawaii 5O,Hawaiian quilts.
I’ve seen quilts in Cold Mountain (newer movie) and Saratoga Trunk and Lassie Come Home (old movies)as well as a couple of I Love Lucy episodes when they moved to the farm in Connecticut.
I have noticed quilts in a lot of the movies shown on Hallmark Chanel and the Hallmark Movie Chanel. Some are historical type movies and some are modern movies.
The Green Lantern! Hal was in his nephew’s bedroom and hanging as the headboard was a great kids quilt.
Rhoda.
Stepmom.
Last weeks episode of Nashville had a memory quilt made by the wonderful ladies at The Quilting Squares in Franklin, Tn.
The movie Lincoln has a beautiful modified 9 Patch.
I always remember the beautiful quilt Bill Murray is sleeping under in the Ground Hog Day movie. We see it over and over because that scene is repeated over and over in the movie.
Little House On the Prairie always had a quilt or two in their shows!
There were quilts used in the movie “Angel and the Bad Man” with John Wayne and I think his co-star’s name was Gail Russell. It’s always fun to see the quilts that they used. They were also in the 1980 version of “Pride and Prejudice”. Now I’ll have to get out my DVDs and see if they were in each of the other Jane Austen’s book-based movies.
Little house on the prairie has often used quilts…..I remember seeing some depression era quilts on the beds….the needed a quilt historian!
On the old series “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd” in the 1980’s there was a quilt hung on the wall behind her bed. I remember it contained a lot of pink but don’t remember the pattern.
The Molly Dodd quilt pattern was called “Double Z”. I remember having a discussion about that one with a guild member at the time. Very graphic single block style quilt.
The Horse Whisperer
A good idea would be a collection of screen photos. My favorite scene shows Kevin Costner with a quilt under a covered wagon in “Dancing With Wolves”
My great aunt told me once that the quilt pattern mentioned was originally designed by my ancestors. She said that in Germany, where my family originated from, quilt designs were used like a coat of arms or plaid pattern and that the quilts were unique to the clans. I would love to know more information about this pattern in particular, if anyone knows where to begin!
You have to include “Little House on the Prairie”
Must Love Dogs has a quilt in it, very briefly.
I was noticing again yesterday, the quilt used on the British sitcom “As Time Goes By”. It seems to fit with the time period.
On tv show The Americans there is a pretty quilt hanging over the bed.
I have been trying to find pictures and/or a pattern for that quilt. I love the irregular border and the beautiful star pattern. If anyone has a picture or knows the pattern, I’d love to for you to share it.
Groundhog Day! I love the quilt Bill Murray wakes up under every morning!
In the movie “The Descendents” there is a beautiful Hawaiian quilt on the mother’s bed in the hospital. The same quilt appears in the final scene on the laps of George Clooney and the two girls as they eat ice cream and watch TV.
Diane Keaton must love quilts – “Baby Boom” and “The Family Stone.”
British TV show “As Time Goes By” has the same quilt on their bed through the entire series.
I remember quilts featured on Little House on the Prairie and an episode of Rules of Engagement focused around a T-Shirt Quilt. As for Movies there was a mention of a Zig Zag Quilt being made in Anne of Green Gables.
Two more came to mind Polyana where quilts were made for raffle and the pinwheel quilt on the bed in the British comedy As Time Goes By,
The movie Nell, My friend, made that quilt.
I’ve seen so many, I thought about a page on my web site with images and references.
Terms of Endearment has a lovely tied quilt on the death bed in the hospital.
Wizard of Oz, several, but when I saw the 3D version in Imax, I noticed the Ocean Waves quilt in the background of the scene where the Pre-witch is about to take Toto and is talking with Dorothy’s aunt and uncle.
When my kids were little I remember seeing a beautiful Dresden plate quilt and other 30s scrappy quilts in the farm house in of all movies, “Barney’s Big Adventure”. I remember thinking, “Is it wrong to covet things from a Barney movie?” 🙂
Being an original Addams Family fan, I noticed a Rail Fence quilt in at least one if not more episodes. In black and white, of course! Have no idea what the colors might have been.
There’s a couple of quilts in Once upon a time. The one that caught my eye is in the episode when Ruby meets her mother. The quilt hanging up in the “wolf den”.
When Harry Met Sally.
Homeland – when Carrie and Brody are in the cabin by the lake.
Downton Abbey – a beautiful strippy quilt was on the hospital bed when Mary gave birth.
Best in Show – Stefan and Scott hang a wonderful quilt on their hotel wall.
I love that quilt. I’d love to have the pattern
There is another scene from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers that also features quilts. After a long winter, the brides wear dresses made from quilts while they and the brothers sing and dance around the farm celebrating the arrival of spring
Katharine Hepburn dances with a quilt in The Rainmaker (1956). Our town did that play and I donated a quilt for that scene.
So MANY wonderful responses! Thank you all! (And keep your eyes open; we’ll keep this list open, too!)
In the scene in ‘Steel Magnolia’ where Shelby (Julia Roberts) is telling her mom (Sally Field) that she is going to have a baby, they walk into the bedroom and there is a lovely quilt on a rack in the background. It looks like an applique quilt.
The movie, “Star Trek IX: Insurrection,” has a beautiful art quilt portrarying the village’s view of the mountain. Wanted to replicate it, but never got it done…..
The first and only season of The TV version “The Firm” shows the most beautiful quilt in several episodes. It hangs in the conferece room of the insurance company. At first glance you think amish or antique, but I think it’s modern. The gradation of values is awesome! Will have to rent it just to see the quilt again!
Sssssss. Is a 1973 movie, a man was in bed with a quilt over him as a doctor was injecting serum into him to Turn him into a cobra. I made this quilt and I still have the quilt.
the Beverly Hillbilly’s there’s one on the car. every episode. and in an episode with Uncle Jed in bed
The Keanu Reeves movie “Constantine” is about a supernatural detective who has returned from Hell. In his very secret strange apartment his bed has a black and white quilt, which I am pretty sure is an antique mourning quilt. Such a nice touch! I always wondered if anyone else appreciated that.
There must have been one in The Andy Griffith Show…
In The Mirror Has Two Faces, Barbra Streisand has quilts hanging on several walls.
TV Show “Under the Dome” used an old quilt to cover the “egg” when it was moved. Then in the next scene, the egg was covered with a different quilt. Probably only a quilter would notice !
Army Wives has quilts hanging on the walls in their homes and Heartland has many quilts too. I have also seen them on Soaps.
I spotted at yo yo quilt a the table in Sleepless in Seattle. I think it was a scene with Rosie O’Donnel and Meg Ryan. I saw a beautiful wall art on the wall going up the stairs in the movie Abba.
There’s a great looking log cabin quilt in the movie “Five Easy Pieces.” It shows up around halfway to the end of the movie, when Jack Nicholson’s character seduces his sister-in-law.
Two quilts in “The Hand that rocks the Cradle”: a flower-appliqué bedquilt in the parents’ room upstairs and a ( pink-white ?) Hearts and Gizzards in the room downstairs on Payton’s bed
Stagecoach. There’s a scene where Jeffery Hunter and John Wayne are in a bedroom and it looks like there’s a strip quilt on one of the beds.
In “Chisum”, after one of the characters is shot (was it Billy the Kid? Been too long since I’ve seen the movie), he is in bed under a yo-yo quilt. Absolutely gorgeous.
Our list is up to around 70 movies or TV shows with quilts! Wonder if we can hit 100? Thanks for all the comments!
The Walking Dead had quilts on the beds in Hershel farmhouse.
The Bridges of Madison County had quilts in it
2 Broke Girls. They have a pinwheel quilt on the back of their couch.
The movie, Beetlejuice, has a great hexie quilt, near the beginning, right after the characters of Alec Balwin & Geena Davis drown, but are “living” in their house as ghosts.
Here’s another to add to the list: a Double Wedding Ring in ‘Pulp Fiction’. Quentin Tarantino is sitting on it near the end of the movie.
Thanks, Susan! It has been added, bringing our total to 117 specific “Sightings” from QuiltViews readers and Facebook friends. Keep watching, Christmas movie season is upon us…
Garp, the baby quilt and About Time, the Victorian hex
There is a beautiful red/green four block applique quilt that Jane Russell totes around in “Tall Men”(Clark Gable movie).
I love the quilt that hangs in the bedroom of the main characters in “The Americans” I tried to research the pattern, but couldn’t find anything 🙁
Thanks, Lynn, for the quilt sighting! We’ll see if any readers know some details about that quilt.
The Americans season 2 ep 6 – behind the red door.
Agent Beeman visits agent Gadd at his home and there is a
simple but effective pattern in what appears to be civil war
fabrics. Gorgeous!
Anyone notice the (crazy) quilt in WAR? Towards end of movie, the son places the quilt over his mom’s shoulders. I wish they showed more of it…it was only a glimpse but it left a very good feeling in me. Thank you if anyone can talk more about the quilt if you saw it.
The Shipping News has a beauty about halfway through. The main character nearly drowned and is tucked into bed to recover. An approximate reproduction is on my to-do list. It’s one of the simplest, most basic blocks–single Irish Chain?–worked in soft lavender on white.
“The Yearling” has a subtly colored quilt on Pa’s bed when he is laid up. It’s a nice multi-patch
The Shipping News has one, soft purples on white.
In the movie Black or White with Kevin Cosner and Octavia Spencer’s granddaughter Eloise sleeps under a beautiful quilt.
There is a beautiful star quilt on Eloise’s quilt in the movie “Black and White” which starred Kevin Coster.
Anyone have the pattern for the 1955 Jane Russell movie TALL MEN with Clark Gable ?
1955 Tall Men Movie Quilt , Any Pattern or picture
The echo of thunder with judy davis
In the final scenes of Terms of Endearment. As Debra Wingers character lies in hospital bed she is covered by a pretty quilt
Terms of Endearment. As Debra Winger’s character lies in hospital near death she is covered by a pretty quilt.
Me Before You – Beautiful Hexie quilts!
“The Tall Man” with Clark Gable and Jane Russell (not sure maybe 1955) Jane Russell carries her red and green appliqué quilt with her throughout the entire movie!
Movie: “Thieves Like Us”. Old Movie, Shelly Duvall says it was made by her grandmother, then Keith Caradine dies and they carry his body out in the old quilt getting it all bloody. I was more worried about the quilt than the character. LOL