Handmade Heaven: Madi Bleu

Je t’aime les madibleu!

Aimee Brock
5 October 2010

Upcycling vintage textiles is my latest love, and high on my “I need” list is a textile wall art masterpiece from Christchurch mum Amanda of Madibleu. These half metre high/wide (or bigger) works of art take all different combinations of vintage, handmade or upcycled textiles like wool, simple cotton, upholstery and drapery fabrics, as well as lace, doilies, peggy squares and other crocheted creations, and work them in together to create a gorgeous kids’ collage. The variety of textile mediums combined with the typography and layers of paint shapes gives a wonderful depth to the image, and provides a tactile experience for your child to touch (if you’ll let them! Clean little fingers first!).

Madibleu is selling a range of collages on her Felt Store including a ‘birdy love’ range featuring little birds, bird cages and doily trees, and a ‘billy speaks french’ range with snippets of simple french phrases included - the story behind them I believe is that these French words are often whispered from a real little billy, in a loving way, to a real little madi, somewhere in Christchurch…

If you are after something custom-made, Madibleu also takes orders, and can include special fabric pieces of your own to make a truly unique piece of art that a child would love in their room right from the nursery stage to a teen ‘s space. Amanda tells me she has more new products in the works, including cushions – so keep tabs on her websites and start looking around your Mum or Nana’s fabric stash.