Putting the boots together

Shoes in stores come in standard sizes. (Read more about standardized shoes sizes here.) How does someone making a pair of shoes or boots by hand know what size to make them?

An experienced seamstress can cut out a pair of kamiks by using her hands and fingers to measure the correct size and shape for the person who will wear the boots. Inuit women also share their kamik patterns with each other.

In sewing the boot pieces together, Inuit women use needles, thimbles and thread. Sewing needles used to be made from bone or ivory but today Inuit women use steel needles. Thimbles protect the fingers from painful stabs and blistering, they used to be carved from caribou antler, bone or made from thick animal skin. Today they tend to be metal.

Top: It takes two rows of stitching to waterproof the seams of sealskin boots.

Bottom: Many Inuk seamstresses still prefer animal sinew for sewing sealskins rathern than modern sewing thread.

The sinew is key in making waterproof hairless kamiks. When it gets damp, it expands and fills the sewing holes. Combined with a special stitch, the sinew thread ensures a fail-safe waterproof join at all seams on the boot.

Each seam is formed where two pieces of skin come together. The stitch used for waterproofing hairless kamiks is done in two lines. In the first line, the needle goes part way through the first skin and all the way through the second skin. In the second line, the needle goes all the way through the first skin and partly through the second. This means that the needle never goes through both skins at the same needle hole. And so there is never a direct path for water to follow from the outside of the boot to the inside.

For haired sealskin kamiks, which don't need to be as waterproof, just the overcast stitch is used. Boot makers have to know exactly how tight to pull the thread. If the stitches are too loose they will wiggle loose and seams will open up letting cold air into the boot. If stitches are too tight they will tear the skin. Haired sealskin is sewn together on the flesh side, making sure that no hair pokes through along the seam while stitching.

Kamiks are not just functional; they are also works of art. Seamstresses have always decorated all but the most basic boots. Traditionally, boot legs were decorated with patterns based on simple geometric shapes such as squares, circles, and diamonds. Traditional kamik leg designs were vertical for male and horizontal for female. Today's complex leg designs do not follow this tradition.

Now that you know about all the work that goes into making a pair of kamiks, you understand why we should always take care of clothes that are hand-made especially for us.

Image source: KNOM Photo Gallery