How to Make a Fabric Flower Bouquet

Are you looking for some wedding bouquet alternatives? We were on an extremely tight budget so ordering a flower bouquet wasn’t an option. I knew I was going to have to DIY it one way or another, so why not create a bouquet that I could keep and cherish forever? Not to mention we were getting married out of state, and I figured anything I could make ahead of time could ultimately save both time and stress.

I decided to go with a fabric flower bouquet because I felt like it could still be soft and romantic, and I could use a lot of fabric and ribbon I already had on hand {including some of my grandmother’s lace fabric}.

Less than 2 weeks until our wedding…

I should mention that I decided to do this less than 10 days before our wedding, and originally thought I would create my own bouquet AND the bouquets of my 4 bridesmaids. Most of my bridesmaids lived out of state {boooo} so if you have family, friends, or your bridesmaids around to help out, then don’t be afraid to ask.

Of course, things got pretty crazy the days leading up to the wedding, and after I finished my own bouquet I began working on the flowers for my bridesmaids. This process took longer than I anticipated so I figured I would bring the flowers up to the cabin venue, and we could finish their bouquets there. Needless to say, we were short fabric flowers, lots of things went wrong {meaning less time to work on last-minute projects}, and we had to be flexible and make some adjustments.

We wound up making the bridesmaid bouquets from some leftover flowers for the reception decor, and they turned out simple and pretty, however, they weren’t what I had in mind. I’ll admit that I felt a little bummed out when I thought about all of the hours I spent making the additional fabric flowers that we didn’t even use, or that I could have spent that time working on something else. Oh well, live and learn, right?

In the end, it all worked out, but I mention this because as a DIY bride it can be easy to add a laundry list of projects to your to-do list, which can also become overwhelming. Do what you can, don’t be afraid to ask for help, and give yourself enough time to work on projects. Prioritizing your projects can also help, but if you are like me then once that list is complete you just keep adding more. Haha. So just remember to be flexible if things don’t get finished or turn out the way you expected. In the end, your wedding will still be beautiful and perfect 🙂

How to Make a Fabric Flower Bouquet

Okay, I am going to try my best to explain this project, but being that I made this pretty last minute, over a year ago, and mostly during the wee hours of the night, my photos are lacking and not the best. This is not a difficult project, but one that does require some time and patience. I worked on this mostly late at night while getting my fill of “Say Yes to the Dress” episodes, lol.

Keep in mind that you can customize your own fabric flower bouquet with the colors of your wedding, how large or small you want it, and can even add personal touches or embellishments like antique brooches.

I would also probably recommend using a different bouquet holder than the one I used. It was slim pickings when I went to the craft store, as is generally the case when you are impatient and short on time, but there are several other options out there that could make this project even easier for you.

Assorted Bouquet Holders {already together}

Large Styrofoam Ball/Bouquet Holder {depending on the holder you purchase}

Pearl Pins

Glue Gun/Glue Sticks

Fabric

Candle/Lighter

Tongs

Wooden Dowels {only if the bouquet holder doesn’t have a “stem”}

Rotary Cutter or Scissors

Cutting Mat

Pen

Circle Templates {different size round lids}

Brooches {optional}

I can’t remember the exact size of the Styrofoam ball I purchased, but think it was between 6-8 inches wide. A lot of these items I already had but the ones I had to buy where purchased with 50% off coupons at the local craft store.

The bouquet holder I found {which was the only one available at the store I went to} basically looked like a plastic funnel with lace trim around it. I wound up removing the lace trim because I didn’t like how it looked with my flowers, but again, there are different bouquet holders out there for you to choose from.

The first thing I did was cut a small section off of the styrofoam ball so that it was more of a dome shape. I cut maybe a quarter of it off.

Afterward, I took some peach fabric, wrapped it around the cut Styrofoam ball and pinned it down. You could also glue it down but I found the pinning to be easier. It doesn’t have to be perfect, because it won’t show, but this way if there are any empty spaces in between your fabric flowers, it will be less noticeable on the finished fabric flower bouquet.

You can see a wooden dowel I stuck into the bottom of the styrofoam in the photo below. This was to make it easier for me to hold it when working with it. I later placed several thicker wooden dowels inside to create the holder/stem of the bouquet. However, if you purchase a bouquet holder with this part built-in you can skip the wooden dowels/fake stem altogether.

I then added some glue along the edge of the plastic funnel and glued my fabric-covered Styrofoam ball onto it.

Once that was done I got to work on my fabric flowers.

Let me first say that when creating the petal shapes it is recommended to use muslin or satin type of fabric when you curl the edges with the candle/lighter method {mentioned below}.

However, don’t be afraid to do a little experimenting on similar types of fabric {but, of course, be safe when doing this}. I also used tulle and lace type fabrics in my DIY fabric flowers, but DID NOT use the candle/lighter method {as mentioned a little later} to create those petals. I just mixed those types of fabrics in between the other petals to create a more romantic look. You will see what I mean in some of the photos later on in this post.

First I gathered 5 round “templates” in different sizes, as this will help create the ranunculus flower look. I basically used a variety of lids to use as templates such as a soda bottle lid, mason jar lid, and candle lid. I then traced the templates onto the different fabrics and cut them out using the rotary trimmer. The rotary trimmer made cutting out the shapes for the fabric flower bouquet sooooooo much faster than just using scissors!

Here is some tulle I had cut to use in between fabric layers. I did not use the lighter/candle method on this fabric or on the lace fabric either, as it would not have the same effect as it does with silkier type fabrics.

Don’t worry about your circles being absolutely perfect because they are supposed to be petals which are more organic anyway. Plus you are going to use a candle or lighter to create the petal shape on most of the fabrics.

I don’t have any good photos of this process, but I basically used some tongs to hold the piece of fabric {so as not to burn my fingers}, and then slowly moved the edge of the fabric around the flame of the candle. Continue doing this until you have as many “petals” as you want.

This lifts the edges giving them a petal effect. The best tutorial I have found on this process is from Lucy of Craftberry Bush, and you can see her instructions Here.

Here are some of the petals with the lifted edges from the candle:

After I had a good amount of petals I started layering the colors of fabric with textures of lace from largest to smallest to create the flower shape. You can use as little or as many petals as you like.

I then placed a pearl pin in the center and stuck the flower into the satin covered styrofoam ball. You could also use more than one pearl pin in the center to embellish them a little more.

I would recommend using medium size pearl pins {or a mixture of medium and long} because the ones I purchased were really long, and I had to keep moving them around to make sure they didn’t stick out of the sides of the ball.

I continued to do this until the ball was completely covered, sometimes making more petals or flowers if needed. Once I had them pinned into the styrofoam I just played around with the arrangement until I created the look I wanted. Okay, I may have played around with it A LOT until I got the look I wanted 🙂

I had also sprinkled in some brooches {purchased on sale at a craft shop} and just pinned those on top of the flowers. If you have old or broken jewelry you don’t use, you could also glue some of those embellishments into the middle of the flowers.

I then stuck more wooden dowels into the bottom of the styrofoam {going through the bottom of the plastic funnel} and covered it with twine, ribbon, lace and a ” Happily Ever After” button leftover from our DIY Wedding Invitations.

Overall I LOVE how my DIY fabric flower bouquet turned out, and the fact that I was able to incorporate some of my grandmother’s lace trim into this project made it even more special.

Here is my fabric flower bouquet all finished!

So what do you think? Will you be making your own fabric flower bouquet?