As mentioned earlier today when I featured a Daenerys Targaryen cosplay, the costumes on Game of Thrones are incredible. They’re beautifully designed and crafted, and each dress and tunic is packed with details that make a big difference even though you might not be able to see every little nuance on screen. Case in point, take the embroidery work Michele Carragher has done for the HBO series. She’s added embroidered patterns and creatures to gowns for Sansa Stark, Cersei Lannister, Margaery Tyrell, Daenerys, and many more. He work is unbelievably intricate and rich.

She used a smocking stitch to create the look of dragon scales onto Daenerys’ clothing. It’s a textured embroidery that you can see once you look at close-ups of Dany’s blue dress and other outfits. Carragher said costume designer Michele Clapton had her start adding the texture in season three. Carragher put together a tutorial with photos on her website that shows how you can emulate the dragon scale look with just fabric, thread, and a needle. It doesn’t look like an easy stitch, but the results are so cool.

The full tutorial is at Carragher’s site, and you can see more if her lovely work there as well.