Sampling for a golden snake

My next sewing commission will have golden snakes along the facings.
"Golden snake" - easy to draw, easy to say... but easy to sew? Embroidery is out - I don't do embroidery. Appliqué? Possibly, if there is a suitable golden fabric to be had. Is there time to find such a fabric? Or appliqué, with a fancy ribbon? At least, finding fancy ribbons is possible where I live.

Glitter and glamour?



Or a more sombre variant?



Halfway through, the old reliable needle threader broke. Nowadays, I seldom can thread my favourite thin needles without the help of one, so I had to get a new one - immediately. No problem, the local sewing shop had them in stock. Same old model - or? Perhaps the little metal thingie was a bit bigger? And... wasn't the lady's head a bit blurry? Anyway, I splurged and bought 4.
Came home. Yes, it was bigger, and blurrier. And - SHOCK - did not go through the needle!!! The new threaders had thicker wire... so I had to use a thicker needle. Doable, but - .
Phoned the other haberdashery shops nearby. All of them stocked ONLY the same type I just had bought. One of them also has another type: "it's so thin it goes through the finest needle possible". Good - so I packed my best needles and drove there (50 km single way). And... apart from being harder to use, it did not go through the needle...
Fortunately, I still have the threader that came with the old serger. But what do I do if (when?) that one breaks, too?

Friends, out there in the wide world - if you know where I can find a needle threader that fits size 9 and 10 needles, please tell me! (What is a "size 9 needle"? Well, I don't know... it is the size printed on the package - from England, if that matters. How are sewing needles numbered? And, FWIW, the old broken threader is made in Japan, the too thick 4 are from Germany.)