Tree of Gondor Coat Construction: Part 2

Once I finished cutting the coat shell pieces from the micro-suede, I finally got to work on the the back panel.

Test of the reverse applique technique.

I cut out the tree from the paper pattern and traced it onto the back piece with pen, carefully lining up the center back mark on the design and fabric. Then, I cut a cream velour piece a little larger than the suede to layer beneath it and basted them together on my sewing machine. I had already done a test of the stitch setting on the fabrics and tried different feet and techniques, so I was prepared to dive into the real thing.

Here are the pictures I took pictures through the process:

Before the first stitch.
You can see the design marked out in pen. I actually used the Bernina open embroidery foot (#20), not the clear applique foot (#23) that's on the machine in this picture. Also note the basting stitches holding the layers of fabric together.

Almost to the tree roots.
You can see where I cut the basting after sewing over it to make sure it wasn't stuck underneath the narrow zig-zag stitch.

Almost done!
On the branches and stars, the knee-lift and 'needle-down' function were invaluable to getting sharp points. I also started cutting out some large parts of reverse applique to make sure the cream fabric looked OK. 

Next in Part 3, onto trimming out the center of the applique design!