How to Make Bridal Bouquet Out of Flower Brooches

Fill a bouquet with special keepsake brooches.

Many women begin collecting brooches at a young age. Perhaps the collection started with a treasure from a grandmother or a shiny floral brooch at the store. You can transform those brooches into a beautiful bouquet for your wedding to share your years of dedicated collecting with your wedding guests. Make a small bouquet from just a few of your favorite brooches, or make an enormous bouquet of all of the treasures and fill a flowerpot with the flowers after your wedding for a regular reminder of your special day.

Things You'll Need

• Flower brooches
• Floral wire
• Elastic band
• Cylinder of foam (or swimming “noodle”)
• Satin or silk fabric
• Ribbon

Instructions

1. Lay the large flower brooches on your work surface and turn each one upside down. Cut two pieces of floral wire for each brooch. Make each piece about 18 inches long.

2. Slide one end of one wire through the right side of the clasp. Pull the wire until an even amount appears on either side of the clasp and twist the wire beneath the clasp to keep it in place. Slide the other wire through the left side of the clasp, pull it to even the wire and twist the wire beneath the clasp. Twist the wire ends together all the way down the length to make a single stem.

3. Repeat the above step to attach a wire stem to each flower brooch.

4. Lay the small and medium size brooches on your work surface, clasp side up. Cut one 18-inch-long piece of the wire for each clasp.

5. Slide one end of the wire through one clasp, even the amount of wire on either side and twist the wire beneath the clasp, all the way down the length. Repeat the step to attach a stem to each brooch.

6. Grasp all of the wire stems together and wrap a large elastic band around the wires to keep them together.

7. Cut a cylindrical piece of foam to a length of about 8 inches. You can use a thin swimming “noodle” or craft store cylinders. Wrap green floral tape all the way down the cylinder and slide the gathered stems of the flowers into the top end of the foam.

8. Cut a large square of satin or silk and place the cylinder in the center. Wrap the sides of the fabric up over the cylinder and tie a ribbon around the top of the cylinder to hold the fabric in place.

References

• "A Bride's Book"; Marsha Heckman, et al.; 2001