A few weeks ago I was offered the chance to enter a challenge that was being hosted by
Fernli Designs ....the challenge was to
Dress Up one of their 10 inch dress forms.
( each entrant was asked to pay
a small refundable deposit ensuring that they honour the challenge after receiving their Fernli product. Such a good idea as sadly there are crafters who take the freebies and not enter the challenges )
After receiving my dress form I stood it on my work bench for a couple of weeks...at one point I was worried that I still hadn't come up with a definite idea of how I was going to dress it up.
I decided to go for a long walk one day last week, mainly to clear away the cobwebs and clear my head. I was in awe of all the wonderful colours of the trees,shrubs and leaves...this is one of the most favourite times of the year for me and as I was scuffling through the leaves I knew exactly how I was going to dress up my dress form.....and so Autumn Princess was born.
I decided to keep the form in its natural state and made an under dress for it, stitching it in place, then I added some pale green lace in a "v" around the neck, front and back.
I tore up an old scarf that I no longer used ( the dark colours made my neck dirty, no matter how many times I washed the scarf, lol ) finishing the bodice off with some pretty black lace.
For the skirt I used strips of silky materials that I had bought over a year ago from a craft fair...each strip was knotted to another, I think they get knitted or plaited, sorry to say I don't know exactly, I do remember loving the colours and just had to buy the bundle.
The colours are so much like the leaves and shrubs I saw on my walk, even down to the purple colour...
The strips were cut to the lengths that I needed for the skirt and along with some black feathers and some strips from my scarf and I glued them to the waist of the form.
Then from my broken jewellery stash I found some bits that I added a few charms to and added to the skirt...finishing that by winding a silky green fabric strip around the waist.
I also made a necklace, and....well I just couldn't resist adding the Princess crown.
I also fashioned a little bag from material from one of my old handbags, which I cross stitched along the sides with waxed cord, padded it out slightly with a piece of sponge..the fastener is a sparkly black brad.
I covered the stand in some cheese cloth and then some hessian....I found this sweet robin in my stash and a bundle of short willow sticks..I adhered them to the base..added some reindeer moss and also some tiny little fir cones I found on my walk...
I am so pleased at how this project turned out..it is exactly how I saw it in my head on my walk..but as all we crafters know, what we "see" in our heads dosen't always look like the finished product,lol...
You can find Fernli Designs Here