Shelby County 4-H has a strong youth sewing program.  Interest from sewing workshops led to the creation of our sewing club called Zappy Zippers.  Zappy Zippers members met monthly to make projects and learn new skills.  Like all other 4-H groups, Covid-19 forced Zappy Zippers to cancel in-person programming.  The youth were devastated as they had more time at home to work on their sewing projects, but their club could not meet.  The Extension Staff and a dedicated club leader worked together to keep the youth engaged and creating during the quarantine.

After realizing the quarantine was going to last much longer than any of us anticipated, one of the Zappy Zipper Club Leaders decided to create monthly projects that members could pick up from the porch of the Extension Office and complete at home. This entailed writing and drawing detailed instruction and patterns.  The Extension Staff would put kits together to complete the project including fabric and other special supplies needed to finish the monthly project.  The club members eagerly picked up their kits and completed a sewing project each month.

Some of the kits were developed to be given as gifts.  There was a project for both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  The 4-Hers were able to give their projects to their family members as gifts.  As a service project, Zappy Zippers sewed gifts for all the residents at a local nursing home for Valentine’s Day.  The director of the nursing home reported that the residents were excited and very appreciative that the kids had hand made them a special gift.  

The 4-H Zappy Zippers project kits allowed the youth to continue sewing and developing new skills and techniques.  The youth had a sense of accomplishment after completion of each project.  The also took pride in the fact that they provided a service to their community and were able to give gifts to their loved ones.  The club made the best of a difficult situation and are excited to be able to meet in person again.