4-H CLOVER CLUB
Third & Final Year – The girls complete their Fourth Projects
Rachele copied an outfit she saw in Seventeen magazine. She combined woven and knit fabrics. She sewed bound buttonholes, lined the top, and pleated the skirt.
Natalie copied clothing from her wardrobe. The rayon blouse, with stripes cut to match, combines knit and woven fabrics. She set a fly zipper in her pants, fastened her jeans jacket with plier-set snaps.
Christy made her little sister a lined coat with inset pockets, shoulder pads, and sleeve cap rolls from a home sewing pattern. She edged the collar and pocket flaps with contrasting fabric.
Rachele setting bound buttonholes. She is using a 260 Pfaff, a semi-industrial sewing machine.
Christy hand hems her little sister’s coat.
The 4-H Clover Club members had just turned nine and ten when they began the Pennsylvania’s Clothing and Textiles program. They were only twelve and thirteen when they finished. Laurel did the pattern making for them, overseeing their work as they set bound buttonholes, fly zippers, and inset pockets; cut to match, sewed knit fabric, etc. Local grocery store’s rebates on their receipts, offered to non-profit organizations, provided the girls with the money to buy Gaffneys’ Fabrics factory remnants from which they made their clothes.
Second Year – The girls choose their Third Project
Rachele makes a jean and sweater set. Natalie designs a lined dress. Christy copies an outfit from Sears,
The girls are now cutting and sewing to match.
First Year – The girls make identical First and Second Projects
First Year – First Project
The girls make pullover tops and gathered pant sets with contrasting lined yokes and pockets.
First Year – Second Project
The girls make pullover tops and gathered pant sets with contrasting lined yokes and pockets.
About 4-H & the Clover Club:
4-H is a USA educational program for boys and girls eight to nineteen years old, provided in the State of Pennsylvania through the Pennsylvania Cooperative Extension Service with the cooperation of county governing boards, Penn State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Clover Club learned industrial sewing methods. They developed their ideas from clippings, shows, and/or the fabric they selected. They oversaw their leader, Laurel Hoffmann, set up the patterns, which they later were able to do themselves. They then cut and sewed muslins for their fittings, corrected the patterns if necessary, and cut and sewed the fabric.
The girls were judged at both the Montgomery County 4-H Fair and the 4-H Fashion Review, winning numerous awards.
Laurel Hoffmann
Clover Club 4-H Leader