NWT Arts

Full hides are hard to come by these days, so I started sewing with hide scraps. I try to figure out how to attach them all together into the design. I use stenciling to cut out pieces and put them together with beads. You can see different natural colours in the hides and that helps the design come about. I don’t always know what I’m going to create, but then I start and the design just comes together. Even when I intend it to be something specific, people see what they want to see in it.

My mother started teaching me beadwork when I was about 6 or 7. I did a teddy bear project and she still holds onto it today. I also watched my grandmother and other people sewing around me. My mother has arthritis now, so she gave me all her sewing stuff. I enjoy sewing; it is a great way to pass the time.