Mermaid Art Doll project #5 - Wings - a mad burst of creativity

A mad burst of creativity yesterday has resulted in my mermaid's wings cut out, stitched up and half decorated in the space of about an hour. Thankfully I had my wits about me enough to actually take some photographs whilst I was doing it.

I had been looking at a wonderful book called 'The Birth of Dragons' and it had such wonderful illustrations that it kicked off my muse.

I started out with a simple hand drawn paper template that I cut out in two layers, one of strong whtite cotton and one of muslin.

I then stitched around the outside to secure and form my tattered couture edge

these are my two wings all cut out, edge stitched and ready to work on

I did a mix of zig zag stitch in dark tan and straight stitch in greens, yellow and cream around the outside and stitched my leaf shapes in green and tan to form the pattern for my reverse applique ( I've not made reverse applique since college so was a bit nervous of going through the whole lot)

I then did a load of free form motion embroidery to give it a padded, layered look and to create the shapes of wings sections

These are my wings not yet RA'd but all stitched up. I'm really pleased with the effect