Houston auteurs Jena Moreno and Nancy Sarnoff didn't know a lot about the filmmaking process, nor did they know much about their subject matter — quilting — when they embarked on their first documentary film, Stitched, last year. Now, they have developed a passion for both.

“My grandmother was a quilter, and I have memories going down to her basement in Ohio and seeing this big wooden frame with her quilts,” Sarnoff said. “I knew she made ‘blankets,’ but I didn't know why or what the process was or what it meant to her.” 

The idea for Stitched emerged after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, sending scores of evacuees into Houston’s convention spaces like the George R. Brown — just weeks before the annual International Quilt Festival was due to open there. The festival opened on time, unimpeded and drew a crowd second only to that of Houston’s Offshore Technology Conference, which impressed Moreno and Sarnoff, both veteran business reporters for The Houston Chronicle. 

“One day I looked up and there were all these quilters walking around downtown carrying their bags, and it seemed to me that the city was getting back to business after all the chaos,” Moreno said.

The backdrop of the quilt festival and its competition for the International Quilt Association’s “Best of Show” prize seemed like a great foundation for a documentary film, Sarnoff added. 

Preconceived notions about quilters being white-haired ladies who stitch patchwork  bedcovers were quickly cast aside as the filmmakers saw what actually goes on at the George R. Brown. Traditional and art quilters of all ages and skill levels, and from around the world come to view a diverse and fabulous quilt exhibit — and to buy fabric, patterns, notions and sewing machines. A recent survey, Quilting in America, shows there are 21 million quilters in the U.S. alone, creating an industry worth $3.6 billion. 

“I didn’t expect to fall in love with the art of quilting and respect it so much, and to find all of these super-cool quilters who are not only fascinating to interview, but fun to hang out with,” Moreno said. 

The two reporters uncovered a compelling story. Three unique art quilters — Caryl Bryer Fallert, Hollis Chatelain and Randall Cook — not only compete for top prizes but also have generated some controversy. Traditional quilters with precise, hand-stitched works view art quilters as a different breed anyway, and the colorful works of these three create even more buzz because of their subject matter, methodology and technique. 

Fallert, of Paducah, Kentucky, was the first to win a major national prize with her machine-made quilt at a time when hand-made pieces were held in greater esteem by purists. Chatelain, of Hillsboro, NC, infuses her art with images of social and environmental issues and uses paint on her quilts as if on a canvas — a technique that had many competitors crying foul when she won the Houston festival’s top prize in 2004. 

Cook, a yoga and Pilates instructor from Rochester, NY, is one of a handful of men who quilt. His art quilts depicting male nudes have also raised eyebrows. The film is primarily about these artists, the challenges they face and the amazing art that anyone can relate to and appreciate. It’s about artists who are pioneers striving for acceptance in their art, Moreno said. 

Fallert won first prize for “Feathers in the Wind,” in the small, abstract art category, and Chatelain won the “Viewer’s Choice” award for “Innocence.

”To get their project rolling, Moreno and Sarnoff needed funding. First, they earned a grant from the Southern Documentary Fund, and then additional support was obtained through funding platforms Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. A website, www.stitchedfilm.com, was born, and social media also helped garner support.

The filmmakers acknowledged that the Houston Film Commission has also been supportive, providing suggestions for producing and marketing the 70-minute film, which will debut in April, 2011. A three-minute excerpt was shown at the Aurora Picture Show’s Extremely Shorts Festival and won second place in a field of 90 films. 

Moreno’s husband, Tom Gandy, has had a pivotal role in their fledgling production companies, PictureSmith Productions and Frame1Media. Gandy, who has worked at two Houston television stations, was also Moreno’s cameraman when she ran The Chronicle’s bureau in Mexico City. Not unlike a quilter stitching together bits of colorful cloth, he now pieces together segments of videotape from their journeys and interviews, striving for a seamless final product. 

“If I weren’t married to the cameraman, this film wouldn’t be happening,” Moreno said.With no marketing experience, the small production team has big ambitions to market the film at festivals around the world. Stitched also may be a stepping stone to future projects, “if we continue to develop skills as filmmakers,” said Sarnoff, who is expecting her first child this December.

“So far, this has been so much fun, and everything has gone our way. We really haven’t failed at anything.” Moreno said. “I could see myself doing this for years to come.” 

Deborah Quinn Hensel is the news editor of Houston Woman Magazine.

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