The Academy of Lifelong Learning will be having their latest course presentation for Charleston Residents starting Friday night and ending on Saturday.

The presentation “Original Drawing to Art Quilts” will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Mattoon Train Depot.

Marita Metzke, the program coordinator for the Academy for Lifelong Learning, said this was not the first time the Academy has put together an event like this, the last event being over 18 months ago.

“Quilting is an art form,” Metzke said. “It’s a very old art form.”

Quilting is the ability to sew fabrics together in pieces in either a very structured way, such as using geometric shapes, and using these fabrics to create patterns on the quilt.

“This is really an old and valuable art form,” Metzke said. “You can go to fairs and quilt shops and see incredible quilts and they can be put together by hand, by machine.”

Metzke said creating these quilts is a timely process and quite often requires a lot of skill before one can truly understand how to properly make a quilt.

“What’s going on in the class is that the instructor is going to teach people to use a simple drawing, and using the fusion of fabric to create a free form quilt top,” Metzke said. “It’s not just arts and craft. This is highly skilled sewing.”

The instructor for this course is Jamie Wills, who is part of the Mattoon Art Council, who will be showing her own method of quilting.

“This particular method by Jamie Wills doesn’t require patterns, (or) a lot of precise matching,” Metzke said. “It’s more of a personal expression by the quilter.”

The course is labeled as beginner friendly; however, this does not mean people who have some experience with quilting cannot come as well.

“It’s beginner friendly, so a beginner could go and be successful,” Metzke said. “Someone that has not done this type of quilting previously could go and learn a new style of pattern or quilt top.”

Like the academy’s last event, there are some fees to go along with this course. Academy members have to pay $49 and non-members must pay $59. These fees will go towards paying the instructor for the course.

“Original Drawings to Art Quilts” will start at 6 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. on Saturday at the Mattoon Train Depot. There are limited spots available, so anyone interested in the event should call the Academy of Lifelong Learning at 217-581-5114.

Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]