From 80’s winter coat to family heirloom
When Kristina contacted me, she already had a clear idea of what she wanted, and she had been waiting to be ready to work with me.
“My mom saved some of my clothes from when I was little, and now my little girls have worn the same clothes as me. My mom’s absolute favorite she has passed down is this winter jacket. I want to figure out some way to incorporate the jacket with both my two girls.”
A jacket with a little history
After chatting with her more, I found out that Kristina’s mom bought this jacket for her when she was little, and so she decided to include her mom in the keepsake, and make it a multi-generational piece.
Kristina’s mom didn’t wear the jacket herself, but she chose it for her, and it became her “absolute favorite.” We agreed her mom’s illustration would be dressed up with a different part of the coat, not the outer part like the rest of the girls who wore it. But she would definitely be a part of the final keepsake!
Kristina (mom) wearing her little coat in the 80’s.
Her older daughter Patience wearing it decades later.
Then her younger daughter Harmony 2 years after.
I love that she’s got photos of the three of them wearing this adorable little jacket!
Designing the keepsake
We decided that the family will be looking away, drawn from behind, so that the keepsake “grows” better with them, and that the girls would be the ages they were at the time the keepsake was created. I also suggested that the keepsake should be 16x20 inches (framed) rather than 12x16 so the illustration is bigger and allows for more breathing space and more use of the coat fabric (because the shapes can be larger) and Kristina agreed.
As Kristina was gathering some photos to send me of the family members and packing the coat for me, she added a photo of her beautiful wedding ring which is a gorgeous yellow diamond, and I made a mental note to have her left hand visible for the ring to be seen, even if it would be a tiny yellow dot. Remember, it’s all in the details, and the customer knows their meaning.
I was so excited to receive everything I needed and start working! While waiting for the coat to arrive in the mail, I had already started the illustration draft. Kristina’s keepsake fell into the “entirely custom” category, and this is one of the categories where I show my customers a quick draft of what the final illustration will look like, for approval of the general look. [More on that below.]
Making things work beautifully
After Kristina saw the draft and made a few tweaks to it, the final work started: the final, colored illustration, and embedding the fabric of the coat. I love my work.
I had to be more inventive with this piece: a part of the illustration had to be “on top of” the fabric, where Kristina’s hand is reaching behind her mom to touch her daughter Patience. So I created another Kristina illustration and that one went over the fabric. It was a fun process, thinking out of the box to make it happen like we designed it. (Not like any of the keepsake is “inside the box” creating but this was further out! :)
The final result turned out so beautiful; it made me want to dig into our old clothes and make something like it for our family. I couldn’t wait to mail it to Kristina. I packaged it and sent it out as soon as possible, after taking some photos, of course!
Now we wait.
Kristina waited a while to be able to see her mom and she didn’t want to open and see the keepsake before her. Well, she did want to, but decided not to :) The wait was so hard for both of us!
When she finally saw her parents and had her mom open the package, it was so sweet of her to get that part filmed. It’s priceless to see recipients’ reactions when they see their keepsakes, and one of my favorite things, when I’m lucky enough to witness it.
Kristina’s mom had one of my favorite reactions to the keepsakes I create: “I could cry […] this is so creative, I would have never thought of it!”
Tears or almost tears are the best endorsement for my work, and I’m pleased to report that they happen very often!
“I’m sad I didn’t open it earlier so I could keep looking at it [before giving it to my mom]! - There was no doubt in my mind. I knew we would love it!”
I love having the recording that Kristina’s husband captured.
I included it in a video summarizing the whole process of this keepsake. Watch it below:
A note about the customer not seeing their custom keepsake before it is shipped:
Usually, when customers receive their keepsake package and open it, they are taking their very first look at it. I don’t send any hint or draft, unless it’s an exceptional case. So that makes the customer’s suspense much higher, and also mildly raises my anxiety level from the time I ship the keepsake to the time it’s opened and “approved.” When it’s an entirely custom keepsake, or a new design, the customer gets to see a quick draft with pencil of the illustration layout before I create the final illustration and do the fabric work.
Luckily—or should I say skillfully—there hasn’t been any negative surprises when it came to keepsakes, even in the most personal of cases, like actual portraits or fashion illustrations inspired by little girls. On the contrary, the reviews have always been stellar!
Related read: Can you imagine what your little girl might look like as an adult?
I’m so happy about how this keepsake came out and that it made everyone in Kristina’s family happy. After this process I feel like Kristina and I became friends. The work I do involves knowing some personal things about my clients and I often end up really liking them after knowing the beautiful stories they choose to preserve by working with me. It also helps that Kristina is a beautiful soul and such a friendly woman.
She’s had a baby boy since this keepsake, so stay tuned; I see a new keepsake for Kristina on the horizon! ;)
