Once I'd drawn the design, I made two copies - one a direct tracing, the other a mirror image. The plan is to machine stitch through the paper onto the skirt interlining fabric (unbleached cotton, sold as curtain lining) then tear the paper away. There are two reasons for doing it this way rather than drawing it on - the first is that this will provide a line which I can follow with my fingers when working from the right side of the fabric, the second is that I'm stitching it using 50 yard spools of thread - which means when I'm done I'll know to the nearest 50 yards how much cord I need to buy.
The third picture is some material samples - specifically chinese satin, acetate satin and duchess satin. The chord is size one and size two from the sample card I received, and I plan to make up samples of embroidered designs and gathered strips to see which fabrics work best for the design of the dress and to support the design.This also give me a change to try out different stitches for attaching the cord, the biggest decision being whether to stitch over the cord or through the cord.