In this lesson, I demonstrated how to prepare the muslin fabric for draping the bias bodice and draped skirt of the cowl neck dress. I used wool as muslin, but any lightweight fabric with a nice drape can be used.

For the bodice, a bias cut piece is required, while the skirt uses straight grain fabric prepared with a special stitching technique to create the draped look.

Lesson Steps:

• Cut muslin for skirt: 40″ straight grain x 58″ cross grain
• Cut 28″ straight grain strip for bodice bias
• Iron muslin pieces
• For bias: draw straight line on bias edge, mark grains
• For skirt back: cut 20″ x 12″ straight grain piece
• For draped skirt look:
  • Fold fabric width (cross grain)
  • Measure 20″ from fold, mark
  • Stitch marked line
  • Open stitched fold to create drape