Ribbons and Lace

For various reasons, all of the flowers at our wedding will be made from ribbon and fabric. And they’re turning out great! I love them. We’re having roses, snowballs, and pansies.

Here’s the basics of how I made each kind.

The Roses

The roses are 1.5 inch wired ribbon. I made three sizes. The large were 1.5 yards, the medium were .75 yards, and the small were .5 yards of ribbon.

I pulled the wire out slightly on both edges on one end and twisted them together to hold them. I then gathered the ribbon as tight as possible along one of the wires and then twisted it slightly with the other wire on that end to hold it tight. I then rolled it around the gathered wire and stitched it every little bit to hold it together.

For the stem I folded a piece of floral wire in half and poked both ends through the flower in slightly different places so the flower wasn’t flopping around the stem with just one connection point.

The Snowballs

The snowballs are made from glitter organza fabric. I used a wood burner to cut 2 inch-ish strips and then sub-cut it to 2 inch-ish squares. I used the wood burner because it would cut and seal the edge at the same time so I didn’t end up with strings and fraying everywhere. The wood burner works best if you hold the fabric tight and find the right speed (not too fast and not too slow). I have some roof flashing that I put under the fabric when I’m burning it so I don’t light the carpet on fire. I get quite the kick out of getting my sewing supplies at the hardware store.

I then stitched the center of each square to a small loop I made on the end of a piece of floral wire. I used 30 squares for each flower.

The Pansies :pansy:

I learned how to make the pansies from a book about ribbon flowers (The Secrets of Fashioning Ribbon Flowers).

They are 1 inch wired ombre ribbon. I cut two lengths. One is 6.25 inches long and I removed the wire from the light edge. I folded that one in half and stitched two U shaped gathers along the light edge. I stitched that to a piece of stabilizer.

The other piece is 10.25 inches long and I removed the wire from the dark edge and it was folded into three parts and gathered in three U shaped parts along the light edge of the ribbon. The two ends of that piece were connected and it was stitched to the stabilizer with the other one. I used a yellow ribbon knot for the center.

:daisy: I love all of our flowers. Snowballs and pansies have been favorites of mine since I was a little child and I’ve always wanted them included in my wedding. Except they both bloom in Spring. But these will always be in bloom.