Monday, March 19, 2018

Spring Foliage Inspired Altered Dress Form

Hello, Crafty Friends!! Today is my first official post on Xyron's 2018 Design Team! And this week we are all about SPRING!! Goodbye, freezing cold temps! Hello, sunshine and flowers!! 

 I remembered I had recently received and fabulous paper mache dress form and I had been dying to have a go at it. I knew right away I wanted to make or at least attempt to make an amazing dress to go on it. The challenge was to make it spring inspired. Then, I thought to myself, "Hmm... This would be absolutely gorgeous if I made the dress out of leaves and flowers"! Well, it turns out, I was right!!

So, today I'll show you how I created this gorgeous Spring Foliage Inspired Altered Dress Form.






Supplies Used
23" Dress Form (Darice)
Big Shot (Sizzix)
Tim Holtz Melange Tissue Wrap (Advantus)
Cardstock- All in the Family- Olive Greens (Core'dinations)
110 lb White Cardstock (Recollections)
Kraft Cardstock (Recollections)
Eileen Hull Blends- Leaf, Wildberry (Clearsnap)
Chalk Box Paint Box Chalk Ink- Cornucopia (Clearsnap)
Hot Pink Tulle
Fabri Tac (Beacon)
Wedding Picks (Celebrate It)
Beaded Garland (Celebrate It)
Rhinestones

First, I gathered my materials. Then, I started by die cutting different shades of green cardstock into 2" x 4" pieces with Eileen Hull's "Leave, Spring" die. I cut down my paper into smaller pieces first because this die has 4 different leaves on it and I only wanted to use the largest leaf on the die with the least amount of waste.

I wasn't sure how much leaves I needed to create the dress but figured 2 - 12"x 12" sheets of each color would be plenty. I ended up cutting  144 leaves total... um, yeah that was waaaaay more than enough! In fact, it was too much. It's alright. I'll stash the extras away to use on other projects.

I wanted each leaf to be seen, so I added shading around the edges of each leaf using different shades of green chalk ink. And yup, I shaded all 144 of those leaves! Well, at least next time they'll be good to go and I can just apply them to my next project! LOL!

 I knew I didn't want any part of my dress form to be "naked". So, I cut pieces of tissue wrap and inserted into my Xyron Creative Station machine and cranked it through to make my own giant sheets of washi tape. Then, I covered the top half of the dress for up to the wooden post.

 I wanted each layer of leaves to lay on the other. I knew I had to create my dress from the bottom on up. I wanted the bottom of my skirt to be fluffy. So, I used tufts of tulle all along the bottom.

I cut my tulle, into 5"x5" pieces, bunched them to form strips, then loosely tied a single basic knot. For this form, I made a total of 20knots.

Then glued each knot, end to end, all along the bottom with a fast drying clear glue,

Once the glue had set, I was ready to build up my leaves.

 I ran my leaves a Xyron 3" Sticker Maker. the applied each leaf in staggering rows. I made 2 rows of each color. leading up to the waist. Once the skirt was done, I trimmed the bottom edge of the tulle to make sure it was even.

Then, I moved onto the bodice...

 I wanted the leaves to "cup" each "breast" so I created darts in the leaves by cutting out about a 1/3" triangle from the bottom of two leaves. I pulled together the flaps and overlapped the sides and glued in place. Then adhered each cupped leaf to each breast and added another two leaves to below those on each side to complete the bodice.

I wanted to add more texture and color. So, I die cut stems and flowers using Katelyn Lizardi's Butterfly Embellishments die. This die comes with a coordinating embossing folder. I die cut 18 stem and 12 flowers. Note: you need 2 flowers to create a single flower.

I shaded the leaves and flowers using Eileen Hull's Blends. Leaf for the leaves and Wildberry for the flowers. 

I glued a flower-shaped rhinestone to the center of each flower. Then adhered the stems to the dress form to form a spray. Then attached my flowers.

For added dimension and drama, I added beaded wedding picks and garland throughout...


And here is my finished Spring Foliage Inspired Altered Dress Form...



A closer look...


Even closer...


I love how these pinks really pop against these greens!!


Well, I hope you all enjoyed my VERY FIRST altered dress form!! Yup, this was my very first! And, I have to say I just added another addicting hobby to my evergrowing list! This may have been my first but it sure won't be my last!!

Thank you all for stopping by!

Until next time...

HAPPY CRAFTING!!
~Mitsyana

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23 comments:

  1. Love your dress form!! I can’t believe you made those flowers!!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jennalee!! The flowers were so easy to put together! Katelyn Lizardi's Butterfly embellishment die makes it soooo easy!!

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank you, Michelle!! It was so much fun to put together!!

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  3. Beautiful dressform, love your flowers and foliage. Tracy ❤️

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  4. Outstanding in every way . . . very inspiring!

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  5. Replies
    1. GIRL... I could just squeeze the fluff out of you!!

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  6. Stunning!! If i was a tiny thing..I'd wear that dress!! :)

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  7. Your altered dress form is absolutely stunning Mitsyana. I love everything about it and in my minds eye I can see it adorning a beautiful little wood nymph as she flits through the trees! Thank you for sharing the steps of how you made it. x

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  8. Mitsyana, this is so freaking fabulous!!!!! You rock!

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  9. Another fantastic Mitsyana project! Absolutely genius!

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  10. Stunning result! So creative 😍

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