An Extravagance - Untouched World Zephyr Ecopossum Coat Cardi

This winter I bought a long-line coat cardi from Untouched World in a dark charcoal colour (graphite). It has been such a popular garment for Untouched World that they have remade it a number of times through the season. This was very lucky for me because I initially rejected it when I tried it on in April, before our trip to the UK.  My mind must have been on the travel wardrobe and warmer climes. In June having returned to the harsh realities of winter I was keen to add this to my wardrobe but had to wait for a new batch to be manufactured.

This has been an absolutely essential garment for me this winter. It has been worn so much.  Here are just two examples of it in daily wear.

Left: Cut Make Trim Tee with Andrea Moore Endless Love trousers
Right: Moochi Enclose Tabard with self-drafted leggings

You may wonder what my love for the graphite Ecopossum Coat Cardi has to do with a sewing blog. Well you see the other base colour in my wardrobe is navy and it hasn't seen much wear this winter because of my aforementioned love. Enter the Untouched World winter sale where an Ecopossum sweater dress size large and a Bleep scarf both in colourway zephyr (navy) become an Untouched World Zephyr Ecopossum Coat Cardi. Does this count as upcycling?

Photos courtesy of Untouched World™

The finished garment

Apologies for the photographs - it has proven very difficult to accurately represent the zephyr colour of this coat cardi.

Zephyr Ecopossum coat cardi worn with the Meandering Chrysanthemum Swirl top and French Dressing jeans

The fabric

No actual fabric just two ready-to-wear items made into something else!  I know it might seem scandalous to take a perfectly good knee length dress with a roll neck and chop it up especially when the dress itself did look good on. However I have reached the age for layering. A very warm cosy dress is no longer practical as I can't take it off for those extreme heat moments. Work have a pretty relaxed dress code but work colleagues shouldn't be exposed to some things.

Untouched World themselves recommend you recycle, upcycle or compost your garment at end of life.  Not sure they would consider end of life as five minutes after purchase.

The pattern

No pattern either, although I did have my original coat cardi to get an idea of the shape I wanted.

The dress laid out on the cutting board

Cutting lines marked and ready to go

The cut up dress

The ribbed scarf marked by pins on the cut line

...and the scarf cut in half

The waste and my new favourite quick unpick (thanks Cheryll)

Untouched World believe in striving for zero waste and I came pretty close to it with this re-make. All that was left is the V removed from the front body to achieve the v-neck and two 9" half scarf pieces. You might see the two 9" half scarf pieces feature in a future garment as they are big enough to use as a sleeve cuff, even though the rib is running in the wrong direction. Can't think of an obvious use for the V piece.

The roll neck is not included in the waste as it was chopped off complete and I intend to bind the cut edge with fold-over elastic so it can be worn as a neck warmer.

The sewing

Super easy to overlock the short cut end of the scarf pieces and place that seam at the centre back neck. The scarf is then overlocked all the way around the cut edge of the dress to make the cardigan band. Et voila the zephyr Ecopossum coat cardi.

About Ecopossum™

Ecopossum yarn was first developed by the parent company of Untouched World in 1992. The first new natural fibre to be used in a textile in over 100 years. It is a blend of fine Merino wool, luxurious Brushtail possum fibre, silk and sometimes angora. Air is trapped both within the hollow fibre and in the fabric when blended with fine merino, creating a cashmere soft, featherweight, exceptionally warm, pill resistant garment that washes extremely well.

About Possums

The Brushtail possum is an animal introduced to New Zealand in 1837 from Australia. It is only found in Australasia, and is not to be confused with the North American Opossum, which is a different animal. The possum is New Zealand’s biggest ecological threat. They are legally classified as pests. In their native Australian environment, possums do not pose a threat, but in New Zealand they have no natural predators.

• Possums eat their way through 17,000 tonnes of native vegetation each night, leaving just bare branches.  The damage is so severe, possums can defoliate entire forests within 20 years
• With no flowers, berries or nectar left, native bird populations have nothing to eat
• Possums are omnivores and also consume the eggs and chicks of our endangered native bird species, attacking adult birds in the nest in order to reach the chicks and eggs
• They prey upon our rare native invertebrates such as weta and land snails
• They have contributed significantly to the registration of several new species of native birds on the endangered list

Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

About Untouched World™

In their own words...

At Untouched World we believe you don't have to give up style and luxury and great design to be good to the planet. Our New Zealand made collections are designed with a less is more aesthetic – to be easy care, easy wear and easy on the earth.

We are the first and only lifestyle fashion company in the world to be recognised by the United Nations for sustainability. We achieved this by getting basic things right from the get-go.

We design our garments and accessories with sustainability in mind. From our luxurious Ecopossum™ to fine machine washable Zque™ Merino and certified organic cotton, we only use the highest quality sustainable fabrics, fibres and yarns that are easy on the earth. We're into fashion not fads so we design everything with the entire product lifecycle in mind, creating multi-tasking pieces that will stand the test of time.

Untouched World™ cafe interior - scones on the counter by the coffee machine!!

The Untouched World cafe also makes a wonderful scone.  I often pop in on the drive home for a cup of coffee and a scone.

In conclusion

If I wasn't so impatient I could wait for Winter 2019 when Untouched World make this coat cardi in the navy colourway.  But I am impatient and waiting is less fun. Fiscally the outcome is probably neutral. I did end up with a unique version of the coat cardi which I am really happy with. My coat cardi garnered many compliments at work this week and a bit of disbelief that it was made from a dress and scarf.

I should add that winter has not been harsh this year. It has in fact been remarkably mild. It is surprising that my original coat cardi has been such a hit given my (over)heating system and the mild winter.  Must be the snuggliness of it.

Special thanks to Lee-Ann at Untouched World who always knows what will suit my wardrobe.

Alabama Watercolour Flowers Sweater

Before you get excited this top was made from an Alabama Chanin pattern. It is not an immaculately hand embroidered garment. Although I do have that on my list of things to do.

The shape of the Alabama Sweater pattern really appealed. This merino blend sweater was my test version before I used some precious Alabama Chanin printed cotton jersey. Of course the real version hasn't happened and I am not sure it ever will (using this pattern) but I do love the "muslin" which has been worn often this winter.

The finished garment

A great sweater especially for those "fat" days - no displaying the muffin top with this pattern, particularly in a fabric with more body. My Watercolour Flowers Sweater has kept me "just right" warm this winter - not an easy thing to do these days.

Couldn't resist this template when playing in Fotojet

The fabric

This is a gorgeous merino blend purchased from The Fabric Store earlier this year. It is heavier than normal merino almost a sweatshirting weight. 

I had to take care with the iron because the wrong side of the fabric was very heat sensitive.  Luckily I discovered this on a fabric scrap so there is no melted plastic on the inside of my top!!

The pattern

The Alabama Sweater pattern can be made in tunic, top or crop top versions. It features a V-neckline and is loosely fitted through the bust with a generous flare to the hem. The Sweater pattern also includes five sleeve variations (sleeveless, cap, short, three-quarter and long-fluted sleeves). The tunic measures approximately 29", the top 28" and the crop top 23" in length. It was part of the Alabama Chanin 2016 Build a Wardrobe programme.

The PDF download includes the nested pattern and comes in sizes XS to XXL along with instructions for fabric selection, cutting, and garment construction.

Updated to add the requested link to the Alabama Sweater Pattern.

The pattern alterations

I made my usual pattern alteration for a forward shoulder but other than that left as per the original size medium cut to top length. Of note is that according to my under bust measurement I should have made a size large or an extra large from my full bust measurement.

I chose the pattern size using my TNT woven top, which ensured it fitted across the shoulders without requiring negative ease.  For me this is the equivalent of "loosely fitted", any more fabric around the upper body and it starts to give the impression of a sack.

Due to the fabric print I decided to omit the centre front and back seams which are slightly shaped, and cut the pattern on the fabric fold, which also meant I ignored the pattern grainline (not a problem in a knit). The sleeves were cut at three-quarter length.

The sewing

Easy peasy sewing on the overlocker apart from the hems which were sewn with a straight stitch on the trusty Singer Featherweight.

I did wonder about using fold over elastic to bind the neckline due to the fabric thickness but couldn't find the right shade so abandoned the idea. The neck binding was overlocked onto the neck edge then folded over and stitched in the ditch from the right side. The result is chunky but not offensively so.

Left: original undarted; Right: with fish eye darts

The darts disturb the print slightly but are not that obvious

I loved the shape from the front and the back but from the side it was a bit billowy. My answer was to insert two fish eye darts into the back which helped to control the billowing slightly, without unduly impacting the swing shape.

Outfit of the day

No outfit of the day picture for the Alabama Sweater but I did sew another version using a striped rayon knit from Marcy Tilton. This knit has much more drape than the Alabama Chanin organic cotton knits and I think it suits the design. For the inner child this is a great top to twirl in.

For design interest I used the existence of the centre seam to alternate the stripes (horizontally and vertically based on the pattern grainline) for both the front and back. This works well in real life but the camera struggled for clarity particularly with the vertical stripe. The neck is bound with black fold over elastic.

The Varied World of the Cut Make Trim Tee

The World Cut Make and Trim tee from the Home Sewn book has become a very favourite garment, made both in its original form and modified. For the recent batch sewn I even made the sash to give a bit more variety to my travel wardrobe.

The finished garments

Green and black stripe long sleeve wool tee with Untouched World Ecopossum graphite coat cardi, Andrea Moore Endless trousers and United Nude Step Mobius ankle bootie

In its original form it is a short kimono sleeve t-shirt. Adapted it is a long sleeve t-shirt with creative options for the long sleeves.

So proud of the stripe matching to make the chevrons at the shoulder seam

The Travel Wardrobe tees with the sash for added variety

Adapted even further it is a dress! The Cut Make Trim Tee extended to knee length using the Silhouette Patterns #2010 three-piece yoga skirt.

Left: with United Nude X-sandal in silver and mint
Right: with Untouched World Lofty scuba merino cardi and United Nude Mid Fold Horizon booties

The fabrics

Always a knit fabric but with different degrees of stretch and fibres - cotton, merino, wool, and viscose.  I am tempted to try this in a non-stretch woven fabric as the size I use doesn't rely on lots of negative ease.

For four of these t-shirts the fabric came from the Fabric Store. I don't have a picture of the navy stripe fabric.

Liberty of London Clifton jersey, design Mayrose in colourway C

180gsm merino in colourway seafoam

180gsm merino in colourway black

The yellow viscose jersey was purchased long enough ago that I don't remember exactly where it came from. The paisley mesh used with the yellow viscose jersey came from Gorgeous Fabrics and the green/black striped wool was a Marcy Tilton purchase.  The Missoni inspired zig-zag jersey used for the dress came from Elliott Berman Textiles.

The pattern

I have only used two patterns from the Home Sewn book by the New Zealand Fashion Museum but those two patterns (Cut Make and Trim Tee and Starfish Swirler dress) have become firm favourites, making this book very good value for money.

The pattern alterations

No fit alterations have been made to this pattern but I have made a variety of style alterations.  It is fascinating that all of the tees in this post have a v-neckline like the original pattern but others in the wardrobe have been made with various depths of scoop neckline.

Some of the tees are a longer length than the original and some have a shirt-tail back. Not that you can see either of these variations as I have only used photos taken from the front - sorry.

Even when I have used the v-neckline sometimes it is bound, other times a band. To get the v point after the neck band is sewn on a small dart is made at the point that tapers to nothing where the band is stitched to the neckline edge. It is difficult to photograph but hopefully you can see the small protruding triangle in the photograph below.

For the dress the technique used came from a Craftsy class by the Tilton sisters.  You need a fabric that is the same on both sides, as you twist the fabric as you sew the band to the neckline. Start sewing the band on with wrong sides together then twist the band so that right sides are together. The closer to the twist you hold both sides of the fabric together the tighter the twist will look.

The outfits

Sorry about the facial expression I was squinting into the sun.

Long sleeved yellow viscose knit tee with mesh insert in the sleeves worn with Andrea Moore Fur Bomber jacket, Kaleidoscope trousers and Mi Piaci Martha ankle boots

Long sleeved black merino tee worn with Bargello Quilt Kimono jacket, French Dressing Olivia jeans and United Nude Mid Fold Rainbow booties

Now You See It Now You Don't - EZ Seamless Raglan Jumper

Having not knitted anything since Winter 1996 I decided to join Fabrickated's knit along of the Elizabeth Zimmerman (EZ) Seamless Raglan jumper. The whole idea of having very little to sew-up at the end of the knitting was appealing.  I have always felt that the finishing at the end was what made my knitted garments look amateurish - loving hands at home - and not in a good way.

It is perhaps a statement in itself that none of the knitted garments I laboured over in the past are still residing in the wardrobe. Even though they were timeless garments and many I would consider knitting again for my lifestyle today.

Unlike Kate and many others who participated in the knit-along I am nowhere near finished with my jumper. I haven't even reached the underarms yet and this jumper is not exceptionally long I am just a slow deliberate English knitter.  (If you are interested in seeing some of the finished stripe jumpers Kate's post can be found here.)

From wool.....to cast on.....to a few stripes

Before the knitting came a slow laborious period of choosing the yarn. I was quite fixed on the colour palette I wanted - perhaps that was my mistake.  A bit like when you go shopping for your Christmas party dress determined it won't be black again only to trail home despondent with another black dress. Eventually I found four of the five colours (in the same yarn weight) at The Main Skein in Christchurch.  The bright yellow proved too elusive so I eventually settled on a pale yellow purchased at Nancy's Stitch Studio in Wellington.

Wool colour palette inspiration

So the knitting process started on 16 June 2018 when armed with my lovely merino 8 ply (double knit) wool I did a test swatch. The next step was calculating the number of stitches to cast on for the size I wanted. Another disappointing aspect of my knitting is the casting on - the end product is quite tight with no give. This led me to research casting on techniques, of course via YouTube.  I discovered Judy's Magic Cast-on with Judy Becker, along with Tubular Cast-on with Lorilee Beltman.

The instructions for knitting the Seamless Raglan Sweater come from Elizabeth Zimmerman's book Knitting without Tears. Largely this is true but I am having difficulty with the jogs where the stripes change colour, despite having watched many a YouTube clip. I realise that some of this will even out when the finished jumper is blocked but still it is pretty ugly.

Ugly stripe jogs



This dissatisfaction with how the stripes look led me to wonder about turning my jumper into a cardigan. The stripe jog can be where I cut the jumper.  So off down the steeking rabbit hole I went. And it is not as frightening a rabbit hole as I imagined. Except...

The stripe jog occurred at a "side seam". I find that garments with a bit of shape suit me better and I carefully decreased at the equivalent of the side seam up to the waist then started increasing as I knitted up to the bust. Given I can't just appropriate the start of the row as the cutting part of the steek what now? Well all those rows of knitting could be treated as practice and I could go back to the beginning. The joy of knitting is that you can go back to your raw ingredient (the ball of wool) and start again. So I did.


.....and back to wool again

Having reached about two thirds of the way to the underarm the jumper has been un-knitted to the start of the first red stripe. In the reborn jumper, aka the striped cardigan, my steek section will contain seven stitches (first four stitches of a row and the last three). Once the jumper is cut to make the cardigan the stitches in the steek section will naturally roll to the inside. I will mark my side seams after a bit of careful maths to deduct the steek stitches. This will indicate where to decrease / increase for the jumper shaping.  Then let the knitting commence (again).

As I carefully undid my knitting my beloved filled me with great confidence as he said "your not a knitter just stick to sewing bits of cloth". I may not yet be a confident knitter but I am stubborn. Plus I have the words of my Latin teacher to bolster my confidence, "oh well at least you can do something" were her immortal words as she held my knitting aloft scrutinising it carefully.

(I had misplaced my Latin homework and she was going through my school bag to find it for me!  Needless to say I didn't last past my first year of Latin - at the grand old age of twelve I hung up my Latin books. I can however, still conjugate the verb to love in the present tense which has proven to be a really useful life skill - not.)

Just to show I can knit when the urge strikes, here are the last three garments I knitted - way back in 1996. These jumpers were knitted sooo long ago that I have actual photographs of them! This was back in the day when I kept a me made photograph album of my embroidery projects, supplemented every now and then with a different craft.

It is interesting to note that 1996 was our first winter here in New Zealand and we rented an old 1920's brick house with open fires (one in the lounge and one in the kitchen/dining room).  We got to experience first hand how bad heating and insulating in NZ homes can be.  There were occasions when it was warmer outside. I spent much of the winter trying to stand in the open fire because the heating effect was so ineffective even a few inches away. Maybe a slight exaggeration but I had been used to well insulated centrally heated homes for pretty much my entire life before this and it was a very traumatic experience.  Was it this cold environment that led me to be such a prolific knitter that year?  The jumper on the bottom right was started in 1990 whilst the others were started and finished in 1996 - admittedly the one top centre was for a child.

I really love the red cable jumper from an old old issue of Vogue Knitting - if only the wool had been soft and cuddly instead of harsh and scratchy. Maybe if I finish the striped EZ seamless raglan and make my beloved his long promised jumper I can knit the cable jumper again in better wool. And it is thoughts like these that make it all spiral out of control. Especially as there are many other knitted garments on my wish list - I have always wanted to knit the Kate Davies' Owligan or even the jumper version.

StyleArc Besharl Isle of Wight Pocho Tee

I really really wanted to take the Liberty Isle of White print top with me on holiday but the Oki-Style Madrid top I made couldn't be seen out in public unless it had been ironed.  When you are on holiday an iron isn't always available so what else could I do with the left over bits of fabric?

Of course the other option would have been to buy more of the Isle of White print. A shortage of fabric however makes us more creative so I was determined to use what I had not buy more. A very unusual statement for me when it comes to fabric, it's usually MORE MORE MORE. Thank goodness fabric isn't fattening.

The finished garment

I'm not sure why I purchased the Style Arc Besharl knit tee PDF pattern because the design isn't my normal style and PDF patterns are not my thing either. Originally I was thinking of making another Style Arc Maris top, as it is good for left over bits of fabric, but found the Besharl tee as I searched for the Maris pattern. Of course it wasn't taped together. Luckily there aren't many pages so the taping was quick to do in the mad last minute rush that over took me in the two weeks before we went away.

This top makes me happy, the mix of prints = fun and fabulous.

Front

Back

The fabric

One of the fabrics I bought as part of my obsession with mix and match for the travel wardrobe was a gorgeous Nani Iro double gauze. The colour was perfect for a bit of mix and match with the Liberty Isle of White print, especially as the pink in the Nani Iro brings out the hint of pink in the Liberty fabric.

Japanese double gauze by Nani Iro, in design Pocho Dot
from Stonemountain and Daughter Fabrics

Liberty of London tana lawn, in design Isle of Wight colourway A
from The Fabric Store

The pattern

Style Arc describe this pattern very simply as a square cut extended shoulder t-shirt with angled seams and back detail.

The pattern alterations

This pattern is for a knit tee but I wanted to make it with woven fabric. The finished garment measurements for the size 10 are bust and hip 40" which gave me enough ease for a woven fabric without any alterations for fit.

In playing with the pattern and the Liberty print it became obvious that I couldn't cut both the pattern front and back feature strip from the left overs.  This is where creativity comes in. If the top had sleeves rather than an extended shoulder then the front and back strip fit on the small piece of fabric with some scrappy bits left over. Coincidentally the scrappy bits were big enough for half a short sleeve so I could continue the mix and match by having the sleeve back half in Liberty and front in Nani Iro.

To change the pattern to a set in sleeve I measured my shoulder width from centre back and marked where the shoulder seam should be. Then did the same for the front pattern piece by matching the front and back pattern pieces together and placing a mark so the shoulder seams were the same length.

As I was now going to have a sleeve I did make a forward shoulder adjustment before creating the armhole. Using my armhole template positioned at the mark on the shoulder seam and swung out to match the side seam I drew the armhole on the front and back pattern pieces.

A short sleeve was then created using the woven sleeve that matched the armhole. The two halves were created by marking a 90° line from the sleeve hem to line up with the shoulder seam point, then adding seam allowance to both halves.

Hope this makes sense. I didn't take any pictures as in too much of a rush to be sewing and I just chopped up the taped pattern.

Edited to add: In my Style Arc Maris Ballet Top blog post I explain in more detail how to alter the pattern for a set in sleeve (with photos).

If I ever decide to make the extended shoulder top I can always print and tape the PDF pattern again.

The sewing

Simple sewing on the Singer Featherweight. All of the seams were sewn with a French seam. The hems were turned under twice and machine sewn.

To ensure the neck edge kept its shape whilst the rest of the top was being sewn I stay stitched at 3/8".  Once the garment was sewn together I used the stay stitching line as a guide for the neck finish. I folded the fabric to the stay stitching line then folded over again so that the stay stitching line was just on the wrong side of the top. Once the neck edge was sewn down I removed the stay stitching.

French seams for the armholes and side seams

The outfit of the day

Here I am in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza at Los Angeles airport getting ready for part two of the journey home (Los Angeles to Auckland). I might have had a night's sleep in a proper bed but I don't really feel any better for it. Flying straight through from London Heathrow to Auckland suits me better. And that sign was the closest I got to coffee until we were airside relaxing in the Koru lounge at the Tom Bradley terminal, where we got to sit for a couple of hours as the flight was delayed.