The Arctic Post

Life Adventures in the Canadian Arctic

Header image
«
»

My new parka

Since we moved up here in August, I wasn’t able to buy a warm winter jacket from the south. I have a winter coat that was plenty warm enough in northern Alberta, but it just wouldn’t keep up with the cold up here. Etienne and I spent a lot of time online researching jackets.

At one point we even ordered a coat from Mountain Equipment Co-Op. Unfortunately, it was way too big (it was a unisex and it didn’t state that on the website). We sent it back in the hopes to exchange it for a smaller size. It turns out they didn’t have anything smaller. We started seriously looking at a Canada Goose. The local co-op even had one on sale. That one was way too big as well. We talked to a few people around here and a few of them said that the Canada Goose was really heavy and almost too warm.  You end up sweating in it and then getting cold. I know that I have seen on many blogs that Canada Goose are by far the most common jackets bought by southerners moving up north. After a lot of thought, I decided that it would be great to have a parka made from someone in Chesterfield. We talked to a few people that have had parkas made up here. There is a lot of women in town that make them. After a lot of discussion, we finally decided who we would ask to make a parka for both Etienne and I. Thankfully she said yes.

The next step was to make a trip down to the Co-Op to buy all the material. Well, that wasn’t easy for two people that don’t know a lot about material. We ended up leaving and asking the lady who was making it for us to come with us and show us which material is best. So we finally decided. We then ordered a fox fur from Bill Worbs in Winnipeg. It only took 1 fitting and a couple of days and she had it completed.

She did an absolutely amazing job on it. I can’t wait to try it out on those very cold winter days!!

Parka 372

Parka 373

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 12:40 and is filed under The Experience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “My new parka”

  1. November 15th, 2009 at 13:04

    Yves says:

    Nice! Is Etienne’s going to be red?

  2. November 15th, 2009 at 13:07

    Pat says:

    It’s nice. And it will be a great souvenir of your time in the north when you eventually move south.

  3. November 15th, 2009 at 13:25

    jen says:

    Wow looks great! Homemade parkas are the best! I have both homemade and Canada Goose. However, I can tell you right now that even though they are expensive and you probably won’t ever need one, you will never sweat in a Canada Goose. If it’s properly fit it should actually be like climate control because of all the down. I only wore mine snowmobiling though, it was worth it, but now I’m down south what am I going to do with this huge thing? lol But I will probably still wear my homemade parka.

  4. November 15th, 2009 at 15:57

    Lindsay says:

    Very nice..who did you get to make it for you? There are definitely lots of fabulous sewers in Chester!

  5. November 15th, 2009 at 17:16

    Mom says:

    I love the colour it looks great on you. Hope its warm enough. What colour is Etienne’s?

  6. November 15th, 2009 at 17:32

    Carly says:

    Etienne hasn’t picked out his material yet. The lady that is going to make it is out of town for a week. So we’ll probably buy the material next week.

  7. November 15th, 2009 at 20:45

    Morena says:

    Love it. Very different style than the way they make them in Dorset. I love that each community has their own way. Amauti’s are like that too.

  8. November 21st, 2009 at 14:52

    Rhonda says:

    LOVE the fur!

  9. November 23rd, 2009 at 00:46

    Tara says:

    You are definitely bringing sexy back! I can’t stop giggling b/c I am picturing you trying to move about like a kid in a snowsuit.

Leave a Reply

CAPTCHA Image
*