Embellishments -- a ponderment

It wouldn't be a larp if there wasn't some last-minute sewing involved. NoKey insists I am inflicting this on myself voluntarily. I still blame Thaleia (Θάλεια), my quirky muse.

It all started when diverteddreamer let me cut her hem to the right height. She said she was inspired to make two easy-to-slip into morning dresses, suitable for hot weather and not requiring a lot of strapping on like her other costume.
I replied that this was a great idea, and of course Thaleia was already bouncing up and down, pulling fabrics from the cupboard and going "Gee, we could do a whole line of these. Let's see, how many rabbitskins do we still have?"
I love her, you see, but some days...

As luck would have it for my new project in class I am working on a jersey dress/tunic so I had a pattern that should fit me. As school is slow and I'm just in the thread-tracing phase, I have no idea whether this would actually fit me, but I'm learning to trust in my pattern drafting abilities, and Thaleia was getting impatient. I had a thicker brown suede-look jersey in my cupboard that was meant for a longsleeve or a pair of leggings, but it was too thick for that. I might as well use it for this. I didn't even bother with thread-tracing (I'm allowing myself to skip this CRUCIAL and IMPORTANT step that is needed for fitting. Hey, it's a jersey. It's a last minute project. It's for Drachenfest.)

The dress is now assembled and the facings need to be stitched down. I really don't want to do this by machine, but I do want it to look pretty.
The dress fits very fine. Just tight enough around the waist to accentuate but not too tight so there are unsightly bulges. The waistline is slightly higher (but, in my opinion, not high enough yet for maximum flatterment) and the dress looks pretty vintage. Yay! It has a short kimono sleeve and a wide skirt. The waistline is accentuated in a separate, 5 cm wide, pattern piece that runs horizontally around the dress. Very nice.

At this point I am looking for embellishments. The dress has a suede feel to it and is brown, so it is very drab the way it is now. I have some brown lace that matches it well, but lace is Not Suitable for a wood-elven Captain. It takes the dress out of the Blood-and-Gore department and into the Cuddly Druid zone. I don't want to go there.
I had thought about embroidery (an acceptable alternative), but my sewing machine is in the shop and won't be returned until after Drachenfest, and NoKey's machine doesn't work well with the threads needed. (It shreds them to smithereens. It's Not Pretty.)

The ideal thing to do is add fur. A bunny skin or two takes the dress out of "Schöne Elfenprinzessin" and right into "I will use your blood for my Warpaint", which is really the vibe I'd like to give out at any moment in time but I fail because I'm a natural medium brunette.
The problem with the bunny skins is that the dress can then no longer be used as a bathing suit. It also interferes with the kimono sleeves. I might just consider making them into a separate bolero-like garment, just like Diverteddreamer did, but I don't want to copy her every move.

Decisions, decisions...