Liz Wauchope and Naina Devi, Adelaide
Liz has been painting and printing on silk, making garments and accessories, since the early 1980s. She was born and raised in Alice Springs and returns as often as she can now that she lives in Adelaide.
Over the 35 years she has been a textile artist, Liz has expanded her repertoire to include screen printing, Japanese Indigo Shibori, devoré (burnout) and discharge printing and dyeing, amongst many other techniques, which have been showcased through Sustainable Couture.
Liz’s current focus on repurposing was ignited by her first foray into the Sustainable Couture Opening Night Parade in 2016:
It has turned my artistic practice around, and I now use pre-loved items as a basis for much of my work. I particularly enjoy Indigo dyeing, coupled either with Japanese Shibori, or with discharge printing.
Liz Wauchope works with the wonderful Naina Devi, who studied fashion design and construction in India, where she lived until coming to Australia several years ago. A tailor of note in her community, Naina’s first love was embroidery. Now she brings the technical and fashion design expertise and imagination to her collaborations with textile artists in Australia.
Naina and Liz discuss the designs for the garments and refine their ideas together, then Liz paints, prints or dyes the fabrics, and Naina does the skilled work of sewing and finishing.
Garment 1
Upholstery remnants and samples dress
Liz collected upholstery fabrics from friends, op shops, and from a remnants’ sale at Spotlight. Naina and Liz designed the dress together, with inspiration from searching Pinterest.
Naina drew up a dress pattern from Liz’s drawings, cutting out the pieces to life size. Because of the lacing at the back, the dress will fit anywhere from a size 10 to a size 18 or so.
Naina patchworked the remnants into large rectangular pieces, each big enough to make one piece of the dress. She laid out the fabric pieces as you normally would, pinning the pattern pieces on top and then she cut out the fabric, and sewed the garment.
Garment 2
Upholstery samples skirt and top, hand painted silk lining on the skirt.
Liz was given a whole lot of fabric samples from a friend of a friend who has an upholstery business. Naina and Liz designed the outfit together, with inspiration from searching Pinterest.
Naina drew up a dress pattern from their drawings, cutting out the pieces to life size (measured to fit size 10-12) Liz painted a large piece of satin backed crepe silk from her stash, using Drimarene K dyes, and the rock salt technique. This was used as the lining for the skirt.
Naina patchworked the samples into large pieces, each big enough to make one piece of the dress. She laid out the fabric pieces as you normally would, pinning the pattern pieces on top and then she cut out the fabric, and sewed the garment.