Inuit Sewing History

Their are thousands of different traditional sewing. The way you learn how to sew always determines what religion, tradition, culture or atmosphere you are in. In my culture, sewing has been apart of the tradition since the beginning of time.

Inuit sewing is taught in many ways with hides and skins of fox, wolves, caribous, seals, rabbits, Polar Bears and other animals in the that come across the north. Since the Inuit live in the coolest environments on this planet, wearing warm clothing was never an option, they had to use these clothing to travel and to survive in harsh weathers to search and hunt for animals for food. Every part of the animal was used as apart of survival, the skins were used for clothing, the bones were used for tools such as a needle, weapon, bow and arrow etc.. every thing the Inuit have used were all made from scratch. The Ulu is famous by its unique shape, It was used as well for cutting up skins/materials and of course to cut up food, the Ulu was one of the most important tools that were used in the past.

Traditional Sewing Supplies

                     

Many inuit have created unique clothing that are fascinated by people around the world, the kamik(iit) are boots that inuit have created and used for years and are still used today as traditional fashion. Sewing Kamiks a different and hard task to learn, their are many steps in sewing a pair.

The amautik is also a very unique pattern that the inuit have created to carry their child on the backs. A storyteller once told me that they have created the amautik so that the baby will be close by the mothers heart, & so the baby shall be warm from the heat of the mother. Today many of us, create our own style of amautik, with different types of material. 

Women in Repulse Bay wearing the traditional Amautik, a type of parka worn by mothers to carry their babies and found almost every where in Nunavut. The amautik can be made of a variety of materials including sealskin, caribou hide, wool, or quilted cloth decorated with various patterns; different types are worn in the summer and winter.