When Cathy Cockney was a young girl, she started sitting with her mother, Winnie, while she sewed.
"I must have been eight or nine years old when she started me off with beadwork. She drew patterns for me, and then I would bead it," she said. "She drew the patterns freehand, but I'm not that artistic – so I've kept her original patterns."
Samantha McKay/NNSL photo
Cockney grew up in Inuvik, but was born out on the land at Bar C, also known as Tununuk Point – a traditional fishing location between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk where her parents had a summertime camp.
When her mother wasn't busy at the camp, she would be sewing.
"She was known for making parkys … she was always so busy with her sewing," she said. "When I was done with the beading she gave me, I would help her with the parkys by putting the trimming on the cuffs and the hood for her."
Today, Cockney sews full-time from her home in Inuvik, and still uses her mother's patterns for most of her floral beading work.
She said she works on all kinds of projects, including mittens, beaded pins, gowaks, covers and more, which she sells at local Arctic Markets and the Great Northern Arts Festival, which she has participated in for three years now.
Cockney said she thinks it is important to keep traditional sewing alive. Though younger generations seemed to be losing interest, she thinks it is coming back, slowly but surely.
"There's been a revival, there's a lot of sewing classes going on, so I think the younger generations are learning how to sew again, which is important," she said.
Cockney said she is passing the skills on to her granddaughter, who is working on an embroidery project with her right now.
Cockney is doing her part to keep the tradition alive in other ways, too, such as through teaching classes and participating in festivals and markets in the North.
"Sewing is a skill that I learned at a young age, there is a lot of knowledge to gain from sewing," she said. "Being able to pass on the tradition is really nice, I'm happy that I'm able to do that."