TETLIT'ZHEH/FORT MCPHERSON - Liz Norman didn't consider herself much of a seamstress until she started working at the canvas shop. Now, her stitches provide shelter for outdoor festivals and whole families of campers.

Liz Norman: works on sewing tents at the Fort McPherson Tent and Canvass shop. - NNSL file photo

"They needed tent sewers so I thought, 'ah, I'll give it a try,'" she said.

Norman began sewing tents for Fort McPherson tent and canvas about five years ago on the advice of her mother, Bella Norman, a fellow employee who can sew anything from mittens to mukluks. But her daughter prefers to stick to what she's good at.

"I don't have patience to do that. I just work with bigger stuff," Norman said.

The "bigger stuff" meaning whole walled tents - she can finish sewing a 14-by-16-foot tent in 3.5 hours and do two or three a day.

"I learned from working at the canvas shop. As you go along when they show you, you catch on fast and then it's easier," she said.

"When I first started, the door in the back of the tent, it took me a whole day and now I just can slide through it like nothing with no help."

She starts with the folds, reinforcing each seam, and patches the corners and the roof to make them stronger. Then it's time to sew the back door flap, screen, and zipper - her favourite part - and then stitch the netting near the roof, around the stove pipe ring if the customer wants one, and finally puts the layer of water-resistant plastic in the bottom.

Norman said she prefers working with the soft canvas rather than the stiffer type of canvas that's covered in a powdery coating. It can get messy.

"You come out of there and your pants are white, just like snow," Norman said.

The shop is not as busy around the holidays, and Norman said the working environment can be relaxing during moments of quiet when everyone is busy sewing, whether on tents of their own or on duffel bags or embroidery.

"Lots gets done," she said.

The finished products sell across the North and beyond, with many customers in McPherson, Tsiigehtchic, Inuvik and Whitehorse.

Norman's sure she could recognize her handiwork anywhere thanks to her own "less loopy" style of sewing the roof netting.

"I see the workers put a big loop in the webbing near the roof, but I don't use that much of a big loop."