My sister was beautiful. This photo was taken when she was about twelve years old – she was still an only child at that time. It would be three more years before I came into her life.
When I was younger than twelve, I would look at this photo and dream of looking like Jane when I reached that magical age. The years rolled by and my mother took me to a photographer to mark that special birthday, but I was disappointed in the result. I did not have Jane’s thick, wavy hair, her tanned complexion, or her beautiful brown eyes.
The original photo of Jane was taken by my grandfather and there is a version hand tinted by my Aunt Corinne.
Recently I scanned the image, printed it in on fabric, and painted the bow. Jane’s favorite color was pink,so a deep shade of that was the obvious choice for her ribbon. In the photo, she was wearing a locket, and I had a mother-of-pearl bauble which seemed to be a good substitute.
A bit of batting, some free motion machine quilting, and I was ready to hand stitch the piece to a bit of vintage edging. I used some metallic thread to stitch her necklace (hand embroidered backstitch) and some silken twist thread to attach the photo to the lacy border. Both threads were gifts from a friend, items from his late mother’s stash.
The in-progress photo is one I sent to the friend while I was working, letting him see his mother’s supplies at work.
All these layers were stitched to a red background, commercial cotton fabric. This is custom framed in a 16” x 20” frame, with a double oval mat.
