INKOM — Learning to sew is a birthright for women in Ariana Long’s family.

Long, a 16-year-old Inkom girl who attends Century High School in Pocatello, was taught to sew by her mother, Kristi Bernier-Long, when she was just 7 years old. Bernier-Long, in turn, learned from her mother, who also learned from her mother.

The family legacy is in good hands with Long, who was recently informed a red wool coat she designed and created took first place in the state in the annual Make It With Wool contest, sponsored by the Idaho Wool Growers Association.

Her coat — made with 100 percent Pendleton wool with a lining, collar, black belt, clasp front and shaped hemline — will now be entered in the American Sheep Industry Association’s national competition. If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, Long would have been invited to Denver to participate in person in the national competition.

Long, who won in the competition’s junior division, admits she was nervous to enter the coat in the contest. It was the first time she’d worked with wool and made her own alterations, without her mother’s help.

“It means a lot to me personally,” Long said. “This is one of the first garments I’ve been able to do on my own and to be reassured of my talents.”

Throughout the years, Long has sewn her own pajamas and several dresses, including a 1950s-style semi-formal dress. For her coat design, she modified a McCall’s pattern.

“I added some different accessories and personal flair,” Long said.

Long previously modeled the coat during a 4-H competition at the Eastern Idaho State Fair, where she won a medal in the style review category.

Long is a 4-H eastern district representative and has been active in both 4-H and FFA for several years.

“I see a lot of people show sheep (in 4-H) and I’ve been exposed to the wool industry through that program,” said Long, who hopes to make her career as a large animal veterinarian. “I’ve done a lot of learning about animals shown in 4-H and their respective industries.”

Long personally participates in competitively showing horses and her dog, a German shepherd.

For winning the state contest, she was awarded a full sheep pelt and 10 yards of wool fabric for her future projects. She explained she used a heavy wool fabric that was challenging to work with for her coat, and working with lighter wool in the future should be easier.

She’s eager to get the coat back from national judging so that she can finally wear it regularly.

Idaho Make It With Wool Director Kim Monk said the contest is intended to promote the quality and versatility of wool and dates back decades. She’s seen photographs dating back to the 1940s of entries from Latah County in the Idaho state contest.

Monk personally won the Idaho contest as a college student in the 1980s. She earned a master’s degree in textile design from University of Idaho.

“Wool as a fiber is extremely versatile. Wool is a nature fiber; it’s highly sustainable,” Monk said.

Monk said she was impressed by all of the entries in this year’s contest, including Long’s coat.

“It was gorgeous. I wanted it,” she said.

Mia Sharnhost of Genesee placed second in the junior division.

There are 230,000 sheep raised in Idaho, and the herd has grown by 5 percent during the past two years, said Naomi Gordon, executive director of Idaho Wool Growers Association. Gordon emphasized that wool has antimicrobial properties and is good for both human health and the environment.

“Fine wool is some of the best fabric you will find in the entire world,” Gordon said.

Gordon said proponents of using natural fiber tend to prefer wool, which she said “had a bad reputation in the past from people who didn’t understand the product.”

In addition to clothing, Gordon said wool is used in making bricks, as an insulator in computers and in fire-retardant uniforms.