Dragonfly Mother of the Bride
Penny Muncaster-Jewell



The outfit is made on the embroidery machine on a water-soluble stabilizer. The base thread lace rectangles of fabric used a unique technique and stitches I created expressly for this. Approximately 20,000 yards of thread were used for the thread lace in black, white and gray. The rectangles were joined into long strips using a “Greek Key” stitch then cut into wavy forms and joined again. Finally, the fabric was oversewn with a grid that provides the integrity for the fabric.

For the checkerboard jacket, two pieces of the wavy fabric were placed on top of each other (one was inverted) then cut into wavy horizontal strips. Then these strips were alternated (top piece, bottom piece) and joined together. The edge border dragonflies were embroidered in a variegated white to gray thread, then added to finish the fabric edges. The beaded embroidered dragonflies were stitched onto gray sparkle organza and I used some lame thread for the edge. This was then attached to the finished garment, and the fabric lace underneath was removed. They were beaded for extra sparkle.

The trim and beaded dragonflies are an original design digitized by me. The skirt and tank are lined with off-white silk charmeuse. The whole outfit was flung in the washer to remove the water-soluble stabilizer (with wine and prayers)!
The Sky is not the limit, nor are the stars. It’s your imagination!