Преподаватель шитья из Амарилло открыл онлайн-курс в колледже Ламар

Local quiltist teaches for online college AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - With advancements in computer and teleconferencing capabilities, many college courses are now available to take online. Many universities offer online course work, but thanks to a local instructor, an online course opportunity exists that may surprise you. “Don’t look too close. This is actually my first quilt,” said Shelly Allen, online quilting teacher. Shelly Allen shared the journey that led her into quilting. “My grandmother’s both quilted and I said, I’m going to do that when I retire. And my husband died in 21 and I thought, why am I waiting until I retire? So I stumbled in the shop and took up quilting and loved it,” said Shelly. I was surprised to learn that quilting has recently become more popular. “It was kind of down for a while, but grandma hobbies are hot. Crocheting, needlepoint, cross stitch, quilting. So yeah, quilting’s coming back. We’re seeing a lot of younger girls come in and say, I want to learn to quilt like my grandmother did,” said Shelly. Like many quilters, Shelly picked up the hobby and learned in the traditional way. “Way of learning would be to come in and do it hands-on, like show them how to use that rotary cutter, show them how to press seams, show them how to pick fabric, those kind of things. So that would be traditional,” said Shelly. As her skills developed, Shelly began to teach others and soon the educator in her and some modern technology led to new horizons and ways to reach others. “I was originally an educator, so I started off in the classroom and then I was a principal. Then I got my doctorate degree online and so that kind of sparked an interest into how things happen online and you still build those relationships,” said Shelly. “Started off with my daughter, actually. She was my first tester. She lives in Austin and she was like, I want to learn how to quilt, but I’m not going to spend 10 weeks with you and I said, okay, we’ll just do it online and so we hopped on Zoom and we walked through it and I gave her some basics.” A couple of doors opened and now Shelly offers a college course that allows students to learn to quilt online. “Currently I’m an assistant professor and I still have to build relationships and I work for Lamar University out of Beaumont,” said Shelly. The online program gives people access and convenience to learn without having to be at a remote campus. “You don’t want to bring your big machine with the embroidery unit with you and pack it. You want to be at home and do it. A lot of younger quilters are coming in, so you’ve got some moms that need to wait till dad gets home so they have somebody to watch the kids, or you’ve got some people that just want to do it at their house rather than come out,” said Shelly. The program is now very popular with people learning to quilt from all over the country. “Right now I have 159 in my course. Yeah, I saw your eyes. So it can go up to 200 and something. It can be a smaller course, but right now I have the practicum and I have 159. And so we go five weeks and then we roll,” said Shelly. Along with the rewards that come from teaching others, the program is also a blessing to Shelly herself. “You know, I thought maybe I would just retire and sit on the porch. I thought that sounded like a great thing, but I had a professor tell me, you don’t want to do that because you’ll end up dying if you don’t do anything. So we’re built to have relationships. I think you have to find what you want to do and don’t put it off because we’re not promised tomorrow,” said Shelly. Well, so many courses and hobbies and skills are available to learn online these days. If quilting is one of your interests, you can patch together a plan online, learn how to quilt. That’s some good news. Copyright 2026 KFDA. All rights reserved.