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How Sarah Palin came to wear alpaca Judy Petrovich, Fabulous Fibers Since my business involves making high end alpaca apparel, I think it's important for alpaca fiber to receive more visibility; allowing the public to become familiar with it's positive qualities which warrant a higher price. My objective has been to see if I could give someone, whom I respected and had a public presence, one of my custom made alpaca jackets to give alpaca garments this heightened exposure. I like the tenacity of Sarah Palin and, since she lives in Alaska, felt she would be a great candidate to appreciate the feautures of alpaca. I mentally debated using her as a recipient since my intention was never to make a political statement, but I kept coming back to the concept of this being just a gift (... an ALPACA gift) to a person who lives in a very cold climate and has "high visibility". After pondering the idea for a few months, I discussed it with Bob, my support and research "team". He then began looking for a way to help me meet my objective... and then it happened. An article in USA today described Sarah Palin's upcoming book signing tour, announcing that it would begin one week from that day ... in Grand Rapids, Michigan, two hours from home. We thought, this must be fate. Further Internet research helped us determine her height and measurements which would allow me to sew a reasonable fit to her frame. So, I began designing the fabric and creating a jacket for Sarah Palin!
Once I actually reached Sarah, I stated that I was an alpaca breeder who had made the fabric and the jacket I was wearing, and asked of she would accept it. She was very gracious; seemed quite pleased;then said "Well, of course I will". No ... I wasn't dreaming ... she had accepted it!
Well, I'd done it! I'd made a jacket for Sarah Palin and had been able to personally give it to her. I had no idea if it would make it back to Alaska with the frenzy involved with her book tour, but I'd accomplished my goal. Much to my surprise, a few days after Christmas, I found a card addressed to me in my mail box. The return address was "Palin". I thought I was delusional! Inside was a note card "From the Desk of Sarah Palin", which, when opened was a handwritten Thank You from none-other than "Sarah" herself! She said she's loving the Alpaca coat. It's warm, beautiful and unique. She obviously took the note regarding my hopes of her wearing alpaca and enjoying the warmth of it to heart and wrote a response. I would have been thrilled with the courtesy of a note from a staff member on her behalf acknowledging the gift, but a hand written note ... WOW! Now I can say, with absolute certainty, Sarah Palin is wearing one of MY alpaca jackets!
Judy Petrovich own Fabulous Fibers, where she creates fine fashion from alpaca fiber, like those she is shown modeling below. For more information, you can visit her website at www.fabfibers.com
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My brother agreed to go with me to Sarah's book signing at the Barnes & Noble book store in Grand Rapids on Nov. 18th. What ended up being a 20 hour day that included 9 hours standing in line, but it was well worth it. In fact, it's almost a miracle that anything transpired with all the security involved with appearances today. Nothing but the books to be signed could be taken into the signing area ... so I wore the jacket. I put a note in the jacket packet with a picture of "Gus" one of our alpaca's used for the coat's fabric, in the pocket. 
No cameras were allowed into the event, but there was a photographer following her on the tour taking photos. We were told they would be on a website at a future date. A few weeks later we found pictures capturing my little "gift-giving moment". Just before I was ushered out, Sarah got up, leaned over and said, "Wait a minute ... let me give you a hug ... Thank you". 
