Sadly, the current state of the finished is much less organized and clean than I was hoping it would be. Therefore, I am going to be reattempting the curved structure with sturdier materials. But here is what I've done so far.

I created the new supports for the piece out of rubber tubing that I found in the plumbing section of the local Home Depot. I threaded string through the tubing as it was soft enough to pierce. I then placed it in this form in order to prepare it for the messy and inevitably ineffective process of pouring plaster of paris into the interior of the tubing. Not even the addition of wire for reinforcement saved the day. So I will be using sturdier tubing for the real finished product.

Despite the failure of the tubing to effectively act as the new support structure, I feel that I am on a successful path with the tear drop embroidery. The final version will take up the vast majority of the felt if not the whole piece.