Parkie for Christmas

As the mercury in the thermometer became less and less visible, many women began to wear their parkies around Kotzebue. After seeing one that my neighbor had been given, I knew a parkie was the thing to have when facing the subzero temperatures. Working with Easter brought back memories of my mother and grandmother.

After arranging a meeting, Rick drove us to Easter's home on a recent Saturday afternoon. On the porch, several shee fish lay at her doorstep. Upon entering, we were greeted by three generations of family, the youngest only a toddler. Easter was seated at the kitchen table pulling white feathers from small birds. "I had told someone that I hadn't had ptarmigan for a long time and someone left them at my door," she explained as the feathers fell into the kitchen garbage can and the red blood covered her nimble fingers.

We spent about an hour in Easter's small home. Trying on parkies from different fabrics, we had a good laugh when I zipped up a large one and pulled the fabric away from my stomach. "This is too big," I said with a laugh. Easter had lain awake the previous night wondering how big I was and how tall. "The sleeves need to be longer," I said as I pulled the calico fabric down towards the back of my left hand.

Rick sat patiently in the living room with Easter's husband and a couple of her daughters while we rummaged through trim and fabric in the hallway sewing closet. We dug through various colors of trim and fabric searching for her measuring tape. When I found it, she said, "You help me find things. You can come by when I am not making you a parkie."

Rotman's store after the first snowfall that stuck.

We decided a brown fabric with maroon medallions accented with a buttercup swoosh would be the best although the purple with metallic thread was difficult to pass up. Easter explained that a heavy lining would be difficult to find but she would look at Rotman's while I searched online for a 10 ounce quilted fabric lining. In the end, she scored on an 11 ounce version that gave the parkie a pillow feel when folded up. The trim would be maroon with navy blue and gold accents and the ruff in wolverine with paws, as well as for the skirt hem. The cost of wolverine skins has reached $495 at Rotman's, Easter said. Beaver is traditionally used for the cuffs.

Easter's talent for sewing was renowned, especially with parkie's and mukluks. She had promised eight pairs of mukluks and had at least three other parkies in various stages of completion. The additional income from sewing helps to support Easter and her husband. She praised social security as her steady source of income, having put into the system while working 19 years at Maniilaq's hospital and several years working at Rotman's many years ago.

When we had finished the selection process, Easter returned to her work at the kitchen table. So much work to do, she commented. She spoke of her life in Kotzebue and leaving her parents in Point Hope back in the 1930s after she married. When we departed, my heart was filled with love for her.

Four days later, Easter left a message on our answering machine saying, "Where are you? I try to find you but you are not there. Your parkie is done and you can come pick it up."She had worked on it for three days, staying up until 4am on some nights.

Seeing the finished parkie laying on the couch, I squealed. Easter pointed out that the ruff had the paws. I admired the parkie's stitching and the dark colored fur cuffs. After struggling with the zipper she helped. Reaching into my purse, I pulled out the payment check and folded it in half. Handing it to her, she thanked me. We talked about sewing a short parkie for Rick after Christmas sometime. The price was less than a third the cost of a longer parkie.

Departing, I thanked her for her beautiful work. Soon Rick would also marvel at the care and love Easter put into this beautiful parkie.  Working with her on this project was like returning to my girlhood visiting my grandmother and working on sewing projects with Mom.