It was way back in February 2023 when I started this dragonfly piece, and it progressed in March 2023 (Dragonfly 2) until other things took over.

It continued briefly in May 2023, when some more of the horizontal gold threads were couched down across the vertical threads intersections.

At some stage between then and February this year, I must have finished the couching, but there’s no photographic record to show when!

I started buttonhole stitching around the cake-wire, capturing the excess threads in to the stitching, partly to thicken the line slightly, but mainly to make sure that it was all secure before cutting off the ends of the thread. It’s a fairly slow process, as the stitches are tiny and close together; also the thread, of which I’m using two strands, is inclined to shred after a while.

A close-up image, showing a few holes in the organza on the outer edge, so tiny that you can’t see them in reality. But this isn’t a problem, as once the buttonholing is finished it will be cut out up to the wire.

I’ve started on the second wing, but there’s still a long way to get round them both.

I’m pleased with how it’s looking so far, and the colour looks much more vibrant in reality.