Western-Wear Designer 'Jukebox Mama' Paints with Thread
Sarie Gessner, known for her Western-inspired suits and custom embroidery, is dressing some of country and Americana music's brightest stars for the stage.
Dear Friends,
This week, we’re departing from our theme to bring you a new profile of an up-and-coming sewist and designer in Nashville. Sarie Gessner, better known as “Jukebox Mama,” is making a name for herself by reimagining custom-embroidered Western wear—and dressing many of country music’s rising stars.
I hope you’ll enjoy reading “Western-Wear Designer ‘Jukebox Mama’ Paints with Thread,” written and photographed by Meredith Lawrence for our Field Notes section. If you’re new to our pages, these shorter articles, which we publish about once a month, are a mix of mini-features, profiles, think pieces, and quick takes that reflect on—or go beyond—our monthly themes.
Beginning in May, our new Field Notes stories will move to Substack, where they will be available only to our paid subscribers. In the meantime, please enjoy this one free of charge and—like everything on our website—free of ads. To continue getting our Field Notes, as well as our new podcast series, “The Secrets of Mastery,” we hope you’ll consider upgrading to a paid subscription, if you haven’t done so already. Either way, you’ll always find a rich archive—of in-depth reported features, audio stories and interviews, photo essays, Field Notes, and documentary shorts—along with resources like our Artisans’ Directory, our guide to U.S.-based craft & folk schools, and more—on our website, all free of ads, and free of charge.
Next Friday, “The Secrets of Mastery” returns with a wonderful new episode to wrap up our April theme: the role that tools play in a master’s work. Next month, we’ll hear from a new selection of master artisans on the topic of sustainable garden design.
We welcome your thoughts and suggestions—which you can offer in a comment, by tagging us in Substack Notes, or via email. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Thank you for reading and sharing our stories, for supporting our work with a paid subscription if you can, and for being such a loyal part of the Craftsmanship community.
Sincerely,
Todd Oppenheimer
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Craftsmanship Magazine
“The Secrets of Mastery” is a series of brief, intimate conversations with artisans, innovators, and other pioneers about what it takes to master their craft, and why handmade matters. It’s available only to our paid subscribers here on Substack. For just $6/month or $60/year, you’ll get access to the entire series, including previous episodes, along with other premium features we have in the works.
Recent Episodes Include:
"How Do Tools and Technology Affect Creativity?" with Gary Rogowski