Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Nov 19/01) - They call it a Delta braid, even though it's not a braid at all.

From far away, this special parka trim looks like any store-bought riffraff, but up close, you can see it's not.

Maureen Elias works on the trim for a new parka. - Lynn Lau/NNSL photo

Each Delta braid is unique, made up of hundreds of little squares of coloured cloth meticulously folded and sewn to form a ribbon of intricate designs.

The Delta braid distinguishes the parkas worn in this region from other parkas. And it all began with one woman.

At least that's what Maureen Elias has heard.

"My granny invented it, that's what they say," says the 60-year-old Inuvialuit woman, who has produced many of the parka and trims seen in the Delta.

Perhaps, Elias considers, the Delta braid was named for her granny's long locks, which she wore in plaits so long that she could wrap them round her baby pack and tie them at her waist.

Elias learned how to sew from watching her mother and especially her aunties, who wore beautiful parkas.

Over the years, she's made countless parkas and trims for her large family, and for the many people who see her work and want something of their own.

Elias has sent Delta braid to Alaska, the Yukon, Tsiigehtchic, Fort McPherson, Aklavik, Yellowknife and Tuktoyaktuk.

Back in the days when she was working for the local sewing centre, she even made nine parka covers for the British royal family. "Queen Elizabeth, her husband and her kids, I made parkie covers for. They were a nice light blue."

Elias sews so much, she wears out a machine every two years. Two Singers sit on the floor and one stays on her sewing table -- she alternates "when one of them goes funny." She's got even more machines under the house.

In every corner of the bedroom that doubles as her sewing room, she has crammed treasures that will one day become parts of parkas - beautiful floral muslin for the "Mother Hubbard" style parka, two tanned wolverine furs under the bed, bits of lace in boxes by her sewing table.

Ironically, Elias was named for a woman whose sewing was known to be slow and sloppy.

To make sure Elias wouldn't turn out like the woman who was her namesake, her grand-aunt called on some magic. Everyday, she would rub Elias's hands to make her sewing fast and neat.

Six decades later, ribbons of that magic can still be found on the hems of parkas just about everywhere in the Delta.