Parka class in Whitehorse revives northern style

Some children in Whitehorse will soon be wearing beautiful handmade parkas, thanks to the efforts of students and their teacher.

Deborah Silverfox has has been showing students how to make Mother Hubbard-style coats.

This year's class guided about 10 students through making a small-size parka from scratch. 

It took them two classes a week, for seven weeks to finish their project.

Students all started this fall with the same pattern, then chose their own fabrics and added a personal touch. 

"It has been awesome," said Silverfox, who said she is self-taught. 

"I enjoy teaching them the shortcuts that I know and also just teaching them how to use a sewing machine. Just getting together and sharing the patterns."

Mother Hubbard parkas have a long history in the North. The elegant outerwear was made in northern co-ops and factories for years.

Every parka from this year's class is different.

Gail Holway, a member of the Champagne Aishihik First Nations, made a green parka with northern lights, trees and even a polar bear on a snowbank. 

Jeszika Milton, another student of the class, embroidered her parka with an image of a yurt where she lives outside Whitehorse.

'It's a homemade parka with an image of my home," she said.

For many, the parkas have a family connection. 

Some are embroidered with wolves and crows to symbolize clans of Yukon First Nations. 

"It's really nice to be able to bring it back because it's been a long time since we've had parka making," said Betsy Jackson, a Ta'an Kwachan citizen who lives at Lake Laberge.

Her coat was made of red melton wool fabric with embroidered flowers, a traditional style among Yukon First Nations.

Another coat definitely has a personal story for Barb Buyck from Mayo. 

She made a red coat emblazoned with the wolf and crow clans of Northern Tutchone/Nacho-Nyak-dun culture.  

"I lost my mom four years ago now and she had always said, 'I've got eight girls and not-a-one of them is sewing! Who is going to sew when I'm gone?'

"So I've taken on that challenge and empowered myself to learn how to sew," she said. "I made a pair of mukluks last year for the first time and it took me 10 years and I got it done. The parka that I am making is for my niece who is a namesake of my mother," she said, laughing.  

'Not afraid' of sewing machine anymore

Some students have decades of experience but say they learned some new things this year.

Virginia Allen from Haines Junction said she never used a sewing machine before. 

"At first I was leery of it because I am used to hand sewing, and it's so simple now. Now I am not afraid of it," she said. 

The class and the material were offered through the Northern Cultural Expressions Society as well as Yukon's Traditional Parenting Program and the Skookum Jim Friendship Centre in Whitehorse, with evening sessions held at the Teen Parent Centre.  

Stewart Tizya, 22, decided to sign up and learn sewing. 

He says he learned "not to feel overwhelmed from trying new things."

"If you're feeling frustrated don't give up so easily, just take a break and try something calming," he said. "Come back to it with a fresh set (of eyes)." 

Some of the parkas were displayed at the Northern Cultural Expressions Society but most will be given to relatives.