Inuit women launch workshop teaching how to create sealskin boots

Two Inuit women launched a workshop series over the summer to teach women how to create sealskin boots. Kimberly Pilgrim and Veronica Flowers started the workshops to continue the tradition of black-bottom sealskin boots. Pilgrim and Flowers are teaching women to create the boots, starting with how to hunt the seals and following the process through to the end where participants complete the boots. The participants learn about hunting and cleaning the seals, using each part of the seal, and stitching them together with a waterproof stitch. Additionally, Flowers’s brother created sheets that included the Inuttitut terms for parts of the seal. “It’s a really powerful way to enhance the workshops, being able to share and know the terms for everything,” said Pilgrim. “Whenever I get the chance to be able to say words in Inuttitut or learn new words and phrases, I’m very happy.”

CBC