The léine, the dress I use as the first layer, is actually very simple (which is authentic) and made from four rectangles, two for front and back, two folded for the sleeves. For vanity's sake I might make another princess cut version, which is completely unauthentic but looks more shapely. The fabric is a relatively light blue cotton (no, not period) that matches the colour of all three possible peplos.
The peplos is the outer garment, worn over the léine. Same as the greek counterpart, the top is folded over, pinned over the shoulders, and either sewn close along the sides or left open and just belted. Two are light cotton tartan weave, the third is a heavier and simple blue and white tartan. You will inevitably get a bateau neckline unless you pin the shoulder parts to the léine to fix them in place. If you want to have a lower neckline at the front, the trick is to either make the front part a tad shorter than the back part, or adjust via the folded part.
As all of this is soooo simple and will be done so quickly I found that having machine-sewn hems visible where the peplos is folded over, I went for hand-sewn hems, at least for the two lighter fabrics. Slowly I'm beginning to realize that perfectionism might be one of the reasons for never getting anything done...
