Inuk woman embraces the fluffy stuff found under muskox fur
Emily Karetak-Tagoona says qiviut is the 'highest quality fibre'
It's fluffy, light and super soft ... and is hidden deep underneath muskox fur.
Inuit call it qiviut, and it's some of the warmest natural material in the North.
"I only learned about it a few years ago," said Emily Karetak-Tagoona from her home in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.
At first she wasn't interested in it.
"We are caribou peoples," she said.
But after her friends introduced her to it, her curiosity got the best of her.
"I looked online and learned about the quality of it, and seeing [it] myself made me want to work on it," she said.
Karetak-Tagoona has been sewing ever since she was a child.
"My mother sewed all the time … needles and threads and scraps were always available growing up, so I've been trying [ever] since."
When she started making clothing with qiviut, Karetak-Tagoona quickly realized that despite how incredible the material is, qiviut can be a pain to work with.
"It's not for everyone," she said
"I almost gave up a few times … removing the long hair is the most tedious part," she added.
Karetak-Tagoona says it's important to get as much hair out to the qiviut as possible because when making garments the hair pokes through the material.
She says she also realized that qiviut is very clumpy when it comes off the animal.
So she got creative and ordered a drum carder with help from the Kivalliq Inuit Association.
It's a tool that's primarily used for wool, but also works great with mukox down.
According to Woolery.com … "carding is the process of organizing non-aligned fibres by breaking up clumps and locks and aligning them."
As a result, it produces a nice flat web of fibre.
And that is perfect for making blankets, snow pants and other garments.
Lately, Karetak-Tagoona has been busy making insulated wind pants with her freshly carded qiviut.
She says they are very warm and people are noticing.
There is a group of women that are taking advantage of her new drum carder and learning about qiviut with her, while making their own pants.
She says she likes teaching them this new skill and hopes it will be a new tradition she can pass down to future generations.
