DIY Fabric Flower Bouquet

Keep Your Wedding Flowers Forever

For those of you who don't know me I am both ridiculously sentimental and crafty, so going any other route with my bridal bouquet just wasn't an option. I made my own out of fabric flowers, which given my past career (and forever hobby as a designer) it only seemed appropriate. It also meant I got to include tons of vintage brooches that were my grandmothers to boot AND it would preserve perfectly forever so it can serve as the ultimate keepsake from our wedding day! 

You don't have to be crafty to make your own, it was a lot of fun to play around with until I got it how I liked it. Here's a list of supplies that I used but the options are endless!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• Hot Glue Gun
• Glue Sticks
• Fabrics in colours and many options of your choice
• Twine or ribbon of choice
• a button or bead to match your theme
• A wiffle ball (I got mine at the dollar store)
• A triangular structure- I used a party blower (again from the dollar store)
• Faux greenery (Dollar Store)

EXTRAS TO ADD

• jewels or beads
• feathers
• brooches, pins or buttons
• pearls or ribbon
• you could even use fake flowers to make it easier!

STEP BY STEP:

1. I stuffed the party blower with scraps of fabric until it was full so it would feel stiff to the touch and not flimsy. 
2. Hot glue the rim of the party blower and stick on the wiffle ball. Let Dry to be secure.
3. Starting from the bottom or wherever you want your ribbon/twine to show (I did mine 1/3 of the way up) hot glue gun a circle for the first wrap. Let dry. Pull taught each time you wrap it around the cone and secure with a dot or line of glue every couple of wraps. Push down the ribbon/twine each time to insure there won't be spacing or gaping later!
4. If you choose to have faux greenery- I think it's great to break up the flowers and make it look more natural. hot glue the bottoms and place them through the wiffle ball and glued securely to the top of the cone or the bottom of the wiffle ball depending on how yours is set on. This is why I loved using wiffle balls for the inside because I prefer smaller bouquets so it was a great size to start with and the holes helped with spacing and securing flowers later!
5. Next if you've chosen to make your own fabric flowers get started! There are tons of different ways to do it. Here are several great tutorials for different kinds of flowers from Skip to My Lou to help you get started. When in doubt cut out several round shapes from one or two similar fabrics and put a dot of glue in the center of the circle and glue it to another circle. Do this to several circle all being glued to the same bottom layer until it's as full as you like! Experiment and have fun with it. Different fabrics will give you different looks too! Not feeling so crafty? Forego the fabric and you can buy a variety of fake flowers you like instead and skip this step all together!                          
6. Here is an optional step. Break out all your trimmings and details! I put something special in the middle of each one of my flowers. I alternated between vintage buttons, my grandmother's brooches, rhinestones and pearls! It gave it that extra something meaningful and a little bling never hurt anyone either!
7. Next is the placement of everything! Play around with it a little until you get it just how you want it! Then stick the "stems" into the wiffle ball holes or glue the flat bottom flower to the sides filling in the gaps as you go! Don't be afraid to rearrange it, I took mine apart a couple different times until I got it just the way I wanted!
8. If you didn't use your ribbon/thread for the entirety of the handle now's the time to fill in the remaining part with whichever trimming you choose. I picked a thick cream ribbon that had been from my Grandmother's sewing things. It was the perfect vintage and bridal touch I was looking for! For the bridesmaid flower bouquets I just did the twine all the way through.
9. Now, that it's almost complete you need to stop up that party blower bottom, you're not going to be blowing on your bouquet so no one even needs to know it's there! For my bridesmaids I picked the perfect sized rhinestones to finish off the bottom with a sparkle, and for my own I used a pearl!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. You can finish them off anyway you like! I added pearl bracelets to my bridesmaids bouquets so they could keep them afterward and a touch of yellow with a ribbon. On my own I glued on white feather plums and draped a strand of my mother's pearls to add to the vintage vibe!

I had a lot of fun making these and they are so easy to personalize and make special in a lot of different ways from recreating your favourite flower, using touches of your bridesmaids favourite colour or like me using pieces from family members to incorporate! 

8 Days and Counting!