A couple days ago I posted a sneak peak of our boutonnieres. I originally found the idea through Martha Stewart’s wedding inspiration section on her website. Personally I thought it would have been helpful to have just a little bit more detail, so I’m providing that to you.
We made the boutonnieres because it seems like every wedding that Peter and I have attended, the boutonnieres end up getting crushed from all the hugs that the groom and attendants receive. We felt it was silly to spend a lot of money on something that so often gets destroyed. After looking for inexpensive alternatives, Peter and I felt that these particular boutonnieres would hold up through a ton of hugs, could be made well in advance, and still had an element of sophistication. Peter’s family bought most of the materials to make them this summer but after piecing together all of the receipts it it seems like they spent about $15 on 12 boutonnieres–rather than the $180 or more that it would have cost through a florist.
All in all the project was really easy! The first boutonniere that I made looked great and there was very little tweaking to be done from there on. Nonetheless there were some little bits of information that I wish I had when I started, so here’s a walk through of how to make them.
Martha’s directions called for covered button, but didn’t specify a size. Peter’s mom did a great job guessing. I think the sizes turned out really nicely. We used three different sized button covers 5/8 (pictured), 7/8, and 1 1/8. The directions provided on the box of button covers are really clear. Each size comes with a separate pattern. You cut out the pattern and trace it onto the wrong side of your fabric.
Then you cut out a circle in the necessary size. (The edges won’t show, so you don’t need to cut it perfectly.)
Below is a bad picture of what to do, but basically you hold the fabric tightly and push the button and into the mold. I tried to capture this action but you really need two hands to do it so taking a picture impeded the process.
Repeat over and over and over again until your fingers feel like they’re developing blisters from using the button press.
Create stems using floral wire.
Then wrap the ends in floral tape. The leaf is made in a similar way. You create a pattern (Peter used his art skills to do this for me.), cut them out, put a piece of floral wire in between each side, iron them together with the no sew bonding tape, and then wrap the end in floral wire.
After you’ve assembled all of the pieces then you can arrange you bouquet in any way you like. Finally, secure it with floral tape and then cover the floral tape with a pretty ribbon. I’m paranoid about things coming undone so I coated the back of the ribbon in fabric glue that make sure that my knot wouldn’t unravel during the ceremony. Can you imagine, a knot coming undone while you’re tying the knot? OK, bad joke, but it still seems like a bad omen.
So there you have it. That’s how we made the boutonnieres. It took a few hours of solid crafting, but I’m sure it would have gone much faster if I had enlisted a friend. Good luck and happy crafting!
I love this idea- price, look, and function- perfect!
Thanks Kasey!