Recalling that her husband "bravely" wore it for several years, Mrs Arnot has come a long way since then and has been spinning, dyeing and weaving for the past 20 years.
The accomplished craftswoman is tutoring at a sustainable skills summer school in Oamaru this month, organised by Transition Town Oamaru to address the consequences of peak oil and climate change.
She took a hand-spinning class last Saturday and has classes this weekend on dyeing fibre and yarns, and weaving on a loom.
Hand-weaving looms were used in the occupational department of a large hospital in the United Kingdom, where she worked as an art therapist, for adults with intellectual and physical disabilities.
She became intrigued with learning to weave.
She was thrilled when her husband, Bob, expressed interest in moving to New Zealand in the 1990s as she knew it was a country of many more sheep than people.
Her materials were mostly sourced from local growers of sheep, alpaca, mohair and angora fibre, which she dyed with either natural dyes or accredited synthetic dyes.
She encouraged the use of yarns and fibres with lots of colour and texture.
Mrs Arnot, who took a contemporary approach to traditional crafts, was passionate about natural fibres.
She has noticed a backlash from younger people about everything being so technological and electronic and people were wanting to do something with their hands.
A growing number of people in their 20s and 30s were learning to knit.
The summer school was an exciting new venture, she said, and she hoped it would continue to flourish in the future.
