I started out with three colors of tulle and matching
chiffon. In my case, they were sage, white,
and champagne. I started with about a
yard of each (so 6 yards total). I began
by drawing a stencil on paper of the flower I wanted to use. Once I had made the stencil, I cut it out,
traced a few more, and cut those out as well so I would have multiple
stencils. Then I decided to make a
smaller flower of the same shape so I followed the same steps making my stencil
smaller. Once I had my stencils cut out,
I folded my fabric, a yard at a time, until it was only slightly larger than my
stencil. I placed my stencils along the
folded fabric, pinned, and cut out the shapes.
Be careful when you do this.
Depending on your scissors, you may not be able to cut through all of
that folded fabric.
Once I had all of the tulle and chiffon for one color cut, I
began layering them together. I simply
took a couple of layers of tulle flowers and laid them atop one another
altering the direction they laid. Then I
added a couple of layers of chiffon on top of those in the same manner. I continued in this manner, building up my
flowers, until they looked thick enough.
In my case, each flower took about 2 cut stacks of each the tulle and
chiffon.
After layering them together, it was time to get out the
needle and thread. I chose a thread
color that matched my fabric, but you could also choose one that contrasts for
a more noticeable center. I began by
stitching all the way from the center back through to the center front and back
to the back again. Once I had the petals
all generally attached, I began to give the flower more shape. I did this by scrunching a few layers
together at a time and stitching through the folds I was holding to keep the
scrunched shape. Then I would scrunch a
few more folds and repeat the process. I
did this until I reached the front of the flower. Then I stitched to the back again to make
sure the petals were all very secure. After
a strong knot, I was done with this part.
Once I had finished a few flowers of each color and shape in
the same manner, it was time to add stems.
I used both extra silk flower stems I had laying around from another
project and a few small dowels. To add
the stem, I just used fabric hot glue and added a dollop to the base of the
back of each flower and secured the dowel there until the glue dried (the best
part of hot glue – that doesn’t take too long).
After the dowels had all dried, I added a ring of hot glue around the
dowel again at the base of the flower just to make sure they were truly secure,
but you wouldn’t necessarily have to do this.
Here’s a tip, if you do use silk flower stems (or anything with wire),
run a bead of hot glue over the end of the stem that will not be attached to
the flower. This seals the sharp wire so
you won’t snag it on anything (including you).
Personally, I wanted to add matching feather bunches. I found these pre bunched at the local craft
store (Joann Fabrics). This step is, of
course, completely optional. Regardless
of if you add the feathers (or anything else), your next step will be the same;
assembling the bouquet. To do this I
simply began holding the flowers together at the desired height in relation to
each other. It took a lot of playing
with all of the flowers (in fact, I even decided I didn’t want to use all of
the flowers I had made) before I finally arranged the bouquet the way I wanted
it. Once I had it held together I
wrapped it with a rubber band where my hand was. Be careful – when you let go things might
shift and you may have to make more adjustments!
Now you get to add more hot glue (non-fabric, regular hot
glue this time). Start carefully gluing
the pieces in place stem to stem. I
chose to do this a little further down the stems where they were all roughly
touching. I also used an ample amount of
glue for this step. I really wanted to
make sure I could put this bouquet through the ringer and not have to wonder
how it would end up looking. Once I had
glued the stems together I removed the rubber band. Now I just needed to cut the stems off to
roughly the same length. Wire cutters
did the trick.
The next step was to cover the mess from the glue and hodge
podge of stems with ribbon. I started by
gluing the end of one ribbon up to the base of some of the flowers tucked in between
a few stems. Then I began wrapping it
tightly around the stems toward the bottom, adding dabs of hot glue along the
stems in a few places as I went to help secure the ribbon and keep it from
slipping. Once I had tightly wrapped the
stems in their entirety, I folded the ribbon over the bottom and glued it in
place. Now the stems were completely
covered.
You could finish there, but I wanted to add more detail to
the ribbon. I added a second piece of
ribbon to the look by cutting a much longer ribbon, finding the center, and gluing
that to the back of the bouquet as close to the petals as I could. I then began wrapping this around the
bouquet. First both ends to the front,
then I crossed them over each other, wrapped them to the back, crossed, and
repeated this process down the entire stem set.
Once I was at the bottom I tied a knot and secured it to the other
ribbon with more hot glue (yeah – hot glue for the win. Lol) I then left the two ends trailing away
from the bouquet. To finish the ends of
the ribbon, I just melted them with a lighter.
Be careful when doing this as melted nylon can stick to anything
(including human flesh – ouch) and only use synthetics with this method. Natural fibers won’t melt, they just
burn. :(
And there you have it!
A perfectly beautiful bridal bouquet (or any other bouquet) complete
with your own colors, petal design, and style in just an afternoon. I have included pictures so you might have an
easier time understanding these directions, but as always, if you have any
questions please let me know. ^_^
Enjoy your bouquet and Happy Crafting!
Shannon
