Santa Fe, Santa Fe, Santa Fe

You'll hear me talking about fractured jackets a lot.

I had been to Santa Fe, New Mexico, but not for a very long time. So I was excited when The Sewing Workshop decided to host a fractured jacket workshop there. When I got there, it hadn’t changed much, at least in the historic downtown plaza area. It was like landing in a foreign country without having to show a passport.

I don’t think anyone dresses like they do there anywhere else in the country. Suede, fringe, ikat-style motifs on blankets, jackets and bags, boots, silver and hats with wide brims. I found myself getting caught up in that look until I remembered that it’s like going on a cruise, buying a pareo wrap, getting it home to Kansas and saying, “What was I thinking?”

But the real highlight of the trip was the jacket workshop. This year, thirty-one women joined us at La Fonda, a hotel with a rich history which is located on the corner of the central square. Easy for dining, shopping and strolling.

Kathy Davis, a friend and long-time associate, created a series of jackets that basically involve layering fabrics with stitches using both the sewing machine and by hand to create a “new” fabric and texture. Samantha Ploch joined in and created her own set of fractured pieces and it showed how diverse the concept can be. We created a video course named Fractured Jacket Class between the three of us that highlight the three core techniques, starting with simple appliqué techniques and soon moved onto reverse appliqué, strip appliqué. We are finding that more techniques are emerging — serged squares and outside seam techniques. It seems never-ending.

We have now done this class twice in Santa Fe, also in France at Chateau Dumas and Topeka. Every one of them is so different. It’s like it’s in the water. Everyone comes to the class with an idea of what they want to do without having talked to anyone, and amazingly ,there are a lot of people doing the same technique, probably based on a video that we send ahead of time, but of course, nothing looks alike.

Here is the class at work, some finished jackets, and some in-progress projects captured on video. If you want to join our team in Santa Fe in 2026, it will be fun.