Lady in a Forest Dress - Part 6

This is a continuation of 5 previous posts about the making of the Lady in a Forest Dress.  I continued to work on the background and add detail to the foreground.  This process is a bit of give and take as I try out some sections and pin the dress back in place; then remove the dress and keep working intuitively by adding more pieces.  When I had the general look that I wanted, I removed everything from the design wall and started working on the ironing board.

I laid down a piece of dissolving foundation, then cut "shrub" blobs of fabric, intertwining them as I went.  I added in some bark pieces, some branch pieces, and a little bit of the moss. When the foundation was covered, I placed a layer of Solvy on the top and stitched the layers together loosely.  Here is a picture of the top and the bottom of that sandwich.

The whole piece was soaked in water and allowed to dry overnight.  I actually made 2 pieces; one for the left and one for the right.  Here is what the larger one looked like after it had dried.

I played around with the placement of the "shrubs" and then stitched the pieces down, making sure there was some underneath the dress sections.  

Then, I appliqued the lady and her dress onto the background.  

The picture above shows some of the background quilting.

Stay tuned for the final at piece!

Lady in a Forest Dress - Part 5

This is a continuation of 4 previous posts about the making of the lady in a forest dress.

I decided to work on the background before adding more components.  My idea was a forest background but not so dark to compete with the dress.  I had a lot of bark and moss fabric left over and had previously made a few forest art pieces.  I pulled fabrics in greens and browns from my stash that were different from the ones that I used for the dress and bodice.

I drew rough lines on the freezer paper pattern to mimic light coming through the forest and gradually getting darker around the edges.  This isn't what it will look like when its finished, but it gave me a sense of where I wanted the light and dark to fall. 

I cut out the figure and then match marked the seam lines.  The first section was the lightest of the greens.  I just ironed down the pattern, traced around it and turned the edges under.  I did the same thing for the next section of green.  It was glued to the first layer at the seam lines, then it's outer edges were pressed under. (I didn't use the light green for the bottom of the dress, which will get covered up.  Later, I will add some muslin there.

I cut out the pattern pieces for the next section and ironed them to the fabric.

After cutting a generous seam allowance, I placed them next to the green portions and glued the edges together at the seam lines.

The piece was starting to get a little floppy, so I stopped at that point and zig-zagged the edges together with invisible thread.  I also added an old ice dyed piece at the bottom.  Then I started adding trees.

I pulled off the lady and her dress, covered the background with light gray organza and stitched it down.  Then, I added more trees and bark cloth to mimic trees that were closer.  Here is what the background looks like with those trees fused in place.

Stay tuned for the next step and I hope you like it so far!