One of the dresses I've made has a bodice made of collage fabric.  I placed scraps of ties right side down to the wrong side of a piece of organza and covered with a sheet of washable stabilizer.  Then I turned the sandwich over and stitched heavily with decorative threads.  The stabilizer was washed out and the resulting fabric used to cut out pattern pieces.  See the dress at http://www.franceskacreations.com/2004Bernina.html.