DIY: fabric boutonnieres

i spent all day yesterday working on these little beauties for an upcoming wedding i'm doing

they are far easier to make than i expected

here's what you'll need:

-fabric shears

-a pretty light-er fabric of your choice for the flowers-about 2 yards

(i chose a polka dotted tulle that was on sale at joanns)

-green fabric for the leaves

-floral stem wire

-wire cutters

-fabric glue

-needle and thread

1. first, cut a flower shape out of a piece of paper 

2. now, cut about 10 square layers of fabric-the more layers the fuller the flower

 3. next cut the fabric flower using your fabric shears and the piece of paper as your guide 

4. then you sort of twist the fabric clockwise applying pressure as your twist it to create the various petals of the flower

5. once you have your flower petals and layers, knot one end of your thread and pinch the flower from the bottom to create the fullness you want, then sew your thread through the center of the flower

6.  after your first thread, manipulate the fabric in different places and sew there accordingly

7.  next step is cutting leave shapes out of your green fabric (1-2 leaves per boutonnieres should be fine)

8. use the fabric glue to glue the two leaves together at an angle

9. now cut your stem wire so that you have about 5 pieces per boutonniere that are about 1 1/2 inches long

10. take those pieces and using fabric glue, wrap the bottom of the leaves tightly around the stem wire then hold/pinch them there with pressure so they can dry properly

11. after they've dried and are secure, use the fabric glue to glue the bottom of the flower to the stem/leaves (don't be shy with the glue here, you wanna make sure it stays)

12. finally after those have dried, use the same green fabric cut in strips to wrap the bottom of the flower/stem wire

(sorry for so many directions!! it's really not that hard i promise)

here is a DIY how-to i used and sort of modified via project wedding