Fort Simpson (Feb 24/06) - A lot of work goes into making a pair of moosehide slippers. Some women are learning exactly how much work.

Louisa Moreau stands ready to give Lisa Moore a hand while she works on the uppers for slippers she is learning to make. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Making a complete pair of slippers from the beaded uppers to the fur around the ankle is the goal of seven women in the traditional sewing program being offered for free at Aurora College.

It should be a challenge, said instructor Louisa Moreau, because many of the students don't have a lot of experience with this kind of sewing. Moreau has been at the college to help students on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons since the program started at the end of January.

Even for Moreau, who has been sewing since she was young, slippers can be a challenge.

She was taught by her mother Rose, who did all her own sewing and tanning. It all started by playing with beads as a child. Moreau said her mother would give her little projects to do to keep her quiet.

"It teaches you patience," said Moreau.

Her first real project was a pair of slippers when she was 13 or 14.

"It didn't work," said Moreau. "I don't think my co-ordination was too good."

Beading the uppers was the easy part. It's not hard once you learn, she said. The problem came when she had to sew them together.

"It's mind boggling for a little girl," said Moreau.

The trick is all in the pleating. You need to know where to put the big and little pleats so the slipper fits the shape of your foot, said Moreau.

After her slipper failure, Moreau became busy with school and didn't have a chance to sew. It wasn't until she got married and had children that she went back to it, she said.

Even after all these years, Moreau admits she still finds pleating difficult. It was only recently she felt comfortable doing it by herself. Before, she turned to her older sister, Elise Joan Tsetso, for help.

Moreau predicts that pleating will also be the hardest things for the students to learn, but they are still a few steps away from that stage. The students are finishing their beaded uppers and learning how to cut their pattern out without wasting any hide.

For Moreau, teaching traditional sewing is important.

As she aged, Moreau said she realized the knowledge could be gone someday.

"To me, it's a dying art," she said.