Sewing the seeds of success in Qikiqtarjuaq

DENISE RIDEOUT

QIKIQTARJUAQ — Sitting at a table scattered with thread, needles and sealskins, Leah Kuniliusie sews the finishing touches on a pair of duffel socks.

Across the room on an orange sofa another sewer, Evie Natsiapik, cuts a pattern out of a piece of sealskin.

Hundreds of sealskins are piled into cardboard boxes, while others lie in a heap on the floor.

Sealskins are business here at the Minnguq Sewing Center.

They’ll be cut and crafted into clothing that will be eventually sold out of this small workshop in Qikiqtarjuaq.

For 15 years a sewing group has gathered here, making and selling sealskin kamiit, vests, mittens and hats.

Jukipa Keyootak, one of the three licenced sewers at the centre, says the job is a fun one.

“I enjoy it. I like to sew,” she said after a day’s work.

Sewing is a tradition in Keyootak’s family.

“My mother was a sewer and I would always see her sewing in the mornings. So I picked it up from her.”

That tradition of sewing has been turned into a business venture here in this hunting-and-fishing community off eastern Baffin Island. It employs three full-time sewers and one part-time sewer.

The centre, in fact, is a workshop and gift store all in one.

A wooden table in the middle of the room is the workshop’s focal point. To the left there’s a sewing machine, and in the back large rolls of red, black, yellow and blue material hang on wooden rods.

Shelves lining the walls in the centre’s entrance way display the sealskin products that are for sale.

Roy Park, the manager of Minnguq Center, said tourists are their biggest customers.

“At lot of customers are from down South. Montreal is a big buyer.”

Park said the vests and mittens are top sellers with the tourists.

But, he said, the women aren’t limiting themselves to making only the most popular items. They’ve experimented lately with producing keychains, hair clips, slippers and handbags.

Right now the sewing centre is largely government-funded. The departments of Sustainable Development and Culture, Language, Elders and Youth provide money for the centre’s operation. It also gets assistance from the QIA’s Kakivak Association.

“The objective is for the centre to eventually be able to fund itself,” said Park, who’s been managing Minnguq since December.

Park and the sewers take pride in the fact that Minnguq has become renowned for its sealskin products.

“The centre brings recognition to the community through its sewing abilities,” he said.

“Pretty much everybody that comes to town comes here.”