Princess dress, ho!

After some very casual internet research, I've decided that what I want is a bliaut (12th century) with pendant sleeves, and gored skirts, not attached. Instead of the usual keyhole or round neck, though, I'm going to do a more 15th-century, off-the shoulder neckline, which means the dress will either need to be very fitted through the body or will have some super-secret support structures.

I'm basically aiming for something like Waterhouse's Ophelia, but with side closures, rather than front.

The layout that I'm basing this all on is here. I think each square equals an inch, so we'll see if I have to do any resizing. I'm thinking I'll probably end up curving the sides, since my waist is smaller than the total width of the body panel when assembled and my bust is much bigger.

I've never really been a fan of pre-15th century clothing, but after looking at tons of pictures of bliauts, I'm slowly being drawn over. It was all sort of a blur of baggy, unfitted clothing. Boring! Unflattering! But I'm discovering that it's really very elegant, and has the advantage of being much simpler to make than, say, a corset.