Not having flowers or a florist for my wedding was the ultimate DIY challenge. Especially for someone like me, who is not all that crafty! When it came time to find something to make for my Aunt, who was doing a reading during our ceremony, I knew I didn’t want a corsage. I felt that corsages reminded me of proms and high school dances or felt more appropriate for grandmothers.
So, I decided that I was going
to make my Aunt a pin. I told her she could either pin it to her clutch the day of the wedding or wear it on her dress, whatever she wanted! She loved the idea, which was awesome, but then I had to find how I was going to make said pin!
Having my mother-in-law make my dress was amazing for a lot of reasons, one of them was that it left me with a ton of leftover fabric to be used for a hair piece for me, hair clips for my sisters, and now my Aunt’s pin too! I kinda loved the sentimental feelings behind having these little mementos share the same fabric as my dress (apologies if that was too “aww”).
Anyway – it took me FOREVER to find a DIY Silk Flower tutorial that didn’t involve sewing! I can usually follow DIY directions really well, but sewing is just not one of my forte’s. Luckily, I finally found a DIY Silk Flower tutorial that was not only easy, but also contained required supplies that I already had ‘on-hand’ around my condo!
Thank’s to Simply Vintage Girl’s Blog, I was able to make the pin above for my Aunt and she loved it! Keep reading for instructions and more how-to information!
The following tutorial was taken from Simply Girl Vintage’s blog. For more information, including pictures, please see the blog post here.
Supplies:
· Synthetic Silky Fabric
· Scissors
· Candle (preferably a tea light)
· Needle and Thread, Glue Dots or Glue Gun
· Buttons, beads, and/or ribbon
Step 1:
Cut circle patterns out of card stock.
Make the largest one’s diameter about half an inch larger than you want the diameter of the flower, as the petals will end up shrinking a bit. Create a few of these, lessening the diameter bit by bit so that the end result has smaller petals in the center and larger ones around the outside. You can also use a pattern here, which works very nice!
Step 2:
Trace around the pattern onto the silk fabric (using a pen).
You can also cut around the pattern and skip the drawing part, it just might not be as uniform . . . but with these, uniform isn’t necessary. And if it’s not uniform, it adds character. And character is good.
Step 3:
Take the scissors and cut out the circle and petals.
Cut just inside the drawn lines to make a circle out of the fabric. Carefully cut only about a third of the way into the circles to create the petals. You can do as many or few petals as you would like, or even add some variety to them. I cut five times, making five medium-sized petals. You can also round the corners of the petals, if you so desire.
Step 4:
Use the lit candle to melt and crinkle the edges.
Be very careful (please have adult supervision, this is rather dangerous), as it is very easy to get burnt. Hold the cut petals about one to two inches above the flame, making sure to keep the circle rotating so that it does not overheat and catch fire. Continue to gently melt the edges of each petal until you have gone all the way around. Do this with each layer.
Step 5:
Sew (or glue) the petal layers together.
Using a needle and thread, create a beginning knot and then sew the layers together. You can come up through the top because the center of the top layer can be covered by a button or bead. To finish the flower, sew (or glue) the button or bead on top.
If you would like to add extra stability to the flower, you can sew or glue a piece of felt onto the back (make sure it is large enough to give good stability, but small enough so that it won’t be seen from the top).
Additional Tips for making the flower(s) into hair clips or brooches/pins:
For a hair accessory, you can sew or glue the back of the flower to the back of a bobby pin, ponytail holder, or snap-clip.
For a broach, you can sew or glue them onto a broach pin or even a safety pin.
As always, let us know if you used this tutorial to make this for your wedding! We would love to showcase it!
