The Dresses CAN Be In The Bag

Dress Shop is one of my most elaborate wall art pieces.  The idea started when I decided to draw some card stock templates of dresses.  I've forgotten what they were originally for.  I do remember that the idea for a dress shop design sprang full-blown into my mind.  You know how these art pieces do.  They just insist on coming to life!

Mixed media wall art.

I wanted the dresses, which I cut from scrapbook paper, to appear to be hanging in the shop windows.  The answer was to elevate them with sticky dots.  I have so many types of scraps to make my own glue dots that I don't buy them.  I think I saw some on a clearance rack and grabbed them for fun.  They're just the round, white discs that are sticky on each side.  I used 2 for each dress, one near the top and bottom.

Dress templates for Dress Shop design.

To further add to the illusion of dresses hanging on racks, I chose to add shadows.  Rather than use gray, I decided to color the shadows in fuchsia, turquoise and lime.  I cut out matching dress templates in scrap card stock, and in keeping with the tri-color theme, placed a complimentary color behind each dress.

Tags and ribbons used in mixed media art.

The title is designed with small tags that I painted, altered and stamped with text.  The little ribbon and paper flags are stapled to the tops.  Note the fuchsia-colored, fabric covered shank button that I used to accent the yarn ribbon hanging at each side of the shop front.  I used one other button at the top of the gable.

8 dresses in my Dress Shop.

Each wire hanger is hand-twisted, and all of the belts and accents are handmade.  I sketched the door, steps and windows, accenting them with paint, marker and clipart.

I painted the turquoise and white awnings freehand, and accented them with black marker.

There is so much going on with this foam core backed hanging art that I can't remember everything.  Even the hole reinforcers that I spray painted silver and used to cover the ribbon  yarn tassels along the bottom are reminiscent of potholes along the cobble-stoned street.  There's also fabric, hand-painted paper, flat sequins and beads.

Dress Shop was sold through my Storenvy shop Marry Me On A Dime.  It's the first of several dress shops to come.   

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