Nfld. & Labrador

Makkovik crafter excited to design parka for new collection by Canada Goose

Blanche Winters — Makkovik schoolteacher by day — is the only Nunatsiavut artist featured in the this year's collection of Canada Goose parkas designed and made by Inuit creators.

Through sewing, Blanche Winters shares customs — and in this case, custom Canada Goose coats

Blanche Winters was sewing outerwear for herself and her community long before she was selected to design a parka for a 2020 collection by Canada Goose. (Submitted by Blanche Winters)

Blanche Winters — Makkovik schoolteacher by day and renowned crafter after the bell rings — is the only Nunatsiavut artist featured in the this year's collection of Canada Goose parkas designed and made by Inuit creators.

And her students are thrilled.

"Oh, they are really, really proud," said Winters, who herself was happy to get the call in October that she would be part of this year's Project Atigi.

"I was excited. But yet I was really nervous to think that I could accomplish it. But I took my time and it all turned out right." 

This is the company's second Project Atigi collection, which commissions designers from across Canada's four Inuit regions — Inuvialuit, Nunatsiavut, Nunavut, and Nunavik — to create parkas using traditional skills and designs.

Winters created the design for this coat, and made five identical coats for Canada Goose to sell. (Canada Goose)

Winters had to make five of the same coat, each the same but in the five different sizes offered by Canada Goose.

"They selected the materials," Winters said. "They went with a solid black, and then you had to add the accent colours you wanted and the style and other features you wanted on that jacket."

Mail delays slowed down her process but she completed the five coats in a month and a half, finishing in December.

Mail delays slowed her down a bit, but Winters finished the coats by December. (Submitted by Blanche Winters)

Sewing has been a lifelong love for Winters, one she passes on to her students in kindergarten through Grade 9. She teaches the kids how to make mittens, slippers, hats and other traditionally sewn items.

"I started sewing when I was probably 15, and I'd make boots, caps, mitts, hats, coats — but I only started focusing on my coats in the last 10 years," Winters said. 

"In the last two years, I'd say I've made over 100 coats."

Winters spent over a month and a half working on the five parkas featured in Project Atigi. (Blanche Winters)

People submit orders from all across Labrador — and beyond — for Winters' cultural, cosy creations. Her Canada Goose parkas — which sell for $2,500 — are on display in Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre, and will head to Paris in February. Winters says three of the five have already been sold.

The proceeds from Project Atigi will be given to Inuit communities through Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a national organization that represents the four Inuit regions of Inuit Nunangat.

Children from Winters' home in Makkovik have been wearing her work proudly for years. (Submitted by Blanche Winters)

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