This yarn couching fiber art coat was almost a complete accident.  I completely lucked into this vintage chartreuse suede coat with bell sleeves and big contrast stitching while looking for coats to upcycle on eBay. From the very beginning I planned to do a wrap around vine with a jungle theme, likely featuring orchids and some animal.  It was only when I made the chameleon on a smaller branch for quilt addition, and then rejected the design, that the design for the coat snapped into place.  The chameleon was already lime, turquoise, and orange (yes, it is a real color way these critters come in).  By placing him on the green coat, I decided to “explain” his crazy color choices by surrounding him with the other colors in the flowers and dragonflies…implying that his colorful coat led to his pigments.

The yarn couching was done on both my longarm and domestic machines with a variety of yarns ranging from artisan hand dye to craft store acrylic with content such as silk, mohair, yak, acrylic, Angora.  The dragonflies feature gossamer wings of painted tulle and painted bead eyes.  The chameleon has a crystal eye and tiny glimmers in his scales of crystal.