Alaskan woman makes her first parka and her little boy loves it

Crystal Alstrom has been sewing for a little more than a decade. Over that time she's focused on making mittens and hats.

"The first pair of mittens that I made was 12 years ago when I was in college," she said from St. Mary's, Alaska.

Alstrom is Alaskan Yupik Eskimo and started sewing to keep her culture alive.

"I also wanted to make my own hats and mittens to keep warm in the winter months," she said.

And that's very important in Alaska.

Despite having so much experience with a needle and thread, she's always held off making a parka.

"One of my dreams is to make my own full fur parka, similar to those of my ancestors," she said.

She just didn't feel like she was ready to make one.

But that all changed one day.

"When my son was born, I got more motivated to start a parka," she said.

And when she got to work, a beautiful creation started to take shape.

"I made the ruff first, with a lynx pelt," she said.

For extra warmth, she chose sheared beaver fur to line the inside of the parka and said she took her time picking out fabric to make sure it would be perfect for her boy.

"I made the parka pattern by looking at some of my son's coats and took some of those measurements," Alstrom said.

"It took about a month working on and off to put the parka together and to my surprise, it had turned out a lot nicer than I imagined."

When she was done, she posted a picture of it on CBC's Arctic Sewing Room Facebook group.

It was a huge hit.

"What an amazing job you have done on your little son's parka!!!" said one member.

"This is absolutely gorgeous! What a wonderful gift you were able to create with your bare hands and imagination," said another.

In total, there were hundreds of comments and the post has been shared over 1,000 times.

"It made me very happy and motivated me to continue sewing," said Alstrom.

But perhaps her greatest joy came the day her son tried on his new parka.

"He tried the parka on and strutted around the house with a big smile on his face."