Kodiak skin sewers replicate historic puffin parka

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The original parka was studied at the National Museum of Finland. A two-year-long journey to replicate a parka more than a century old is nearly over for a group of skin sewers on Kodiak Island. In what the sewers described as "a bittersweet moment" the parka was presented to the public recently.

A two-year-long journey to replicate a parka more than a century old is nearly over for a group of skin sewers on Kodiak Island. In what the sewers described as a "bittersweet moment," the parka was presented to the public last week.

The sewers recreated the parka after traveling to Finland to study the original, which has been preserved along with a collection of other Alaska Native artifacts.

"I would say we are probably the first Alaska Native people actually from the region it was created in to see it in 100 years, or a very long time," said Susan Malutin, a longtime skin sewer, in a phone interview.

Today, the original parka sits in a storage unit in Finland.

"Recreating this was challenging, simply because we had to secure materials we didn't have," said Malutin. "We did have to take numerous pictures and measurements of the original. And we had to have an understanding that (the replica) wouldn't be exact. We had to improvise."

The hardest piece to improvise was the puffin beak trim. The Migratory Bird Act of 1918 protects puffins and their parts, making it illegal under federal law for anyone to use the beaks for crafting purposes.

Read more: Skin sewers stitch pieces of the past with the present