I think to preserve the hand work, you could add a fusible interfacing to the back to stabilize and strengthen the background fabric. I would use a light box and lay the block on it , place paper on top and trace the block lady. I would then draw in the arms and neck details on the paper until I got them right. Once I had the paper pattern right, I would put it on the light box and use a Frixion pen to draw on the the neck and arms on the block and do the hand embroidery.