region attractor

I've been trying to carefully scale a pattern on a surface using paneling tools, and I've been having trouble controlling the attractors. I've tried using combinations of curves, lines, and both, with both positive and negative magnitudes, but still am not happy with the results.

Is it possible to use an entire region as an attractor? Where the grid inside the region would remain unchanged, but the grid on the outside would be moved/effected. Ive thought about splitting the surface and using two different grids, but I don't think I could get the pattern to line up correctly and I would prefer that it is continuous across the entire surface.

Thanks!