In the meantime I made this ...

I've been agonising over my Chanel jacket and still have not decided on the pattern, the lining or the trim. So I made this dress instead. It's Butterick 5277. I bought it for View C with the collar because it has a nice retro feel to it, but for a quick fix I made this version of View A.

It's a quilting cotton, lined with plain brown cotton poplin, because it's way too hot here for any other kind of lining plus I don't like the feel of silk on my skin. I muslined it first and used the tweaked muslin as the lining. It's a 10 going to a 12 at the hips as seems to be my standard for Butterick and Vogue. It fits really well but after wearing it all day today, I have to say that the sleeve caps make it a little restrictive, ie the whole dress lifts up when you raise your arms. Next time I would shorten them but about 1.5cm, maybe even 2cm and that will stop the problem. I'll compare them against a BWOF pattern of a similar style that doesn't cause the same problem. It's an easy sew and a good basic dress. I love the shape of the neckline, too.

I've been madly braiding all kinds of things for my Chanel jacket. This is a quick down and dirty from two strands each of 8ply knitting wool from my stash. The colours aren't right, but they're close enough to get an idea of how it would work as well as giving an indication as to the thickness of the braid. I like this look.
I then found some shiny cord at the local store and tried a few combinations. My braiding got worse and worse as I went on, so it's hard to tell.

In this sample I used a bright purple, a yellow (they had no lime green), a chocolate brown and a dark green that's a little too Christmasy, but it was enough to let me know to lose the brights and dim it down a little.

This sample has swapped the bright purple for a pale lavender, which I really like, but it's still not there.

Sorry about the blur - it's hard to tell, but this is pale lavender, pale mint green, bright green and chocolate brown. If I can find a more olive green, I think this might be a winning combination. Now I just need to decide between this satiny cord or a rough knitting yarn. Oh, and I need to pick a pattern.