A few months before the wedding, I met with the bride to be to go over some of the creative details of the wedding, and right off the bat she decided she didn’t want to use real flowers for her wedding, as it was going to be outdoors during one of the hottest months of the year. I couldn’t say that I blamed her as temperatures often exceed 100 degrees out here during the summer, and fresh flowers would be both expensive and logistically difficult to use in that heat. Not to mention fake flowers can be just as beautiful as real ones if you use them correctly, with the added bonus that they’ll never discolor or wilt, meaning that your wedding bouquet will be as beautiful ten years later as it was on the day of your wedding.
She had a folder of ideas she wanted to do if she could, and handed me a picture of a bouquet made entirely of ribbons and said, “I really love this.”, but in a way that suggested she would never be able to have it. I took the picture and told her not to worry, as a wedding gift I’d figure out how to do it, and she’d have a similar one for her wedding, and so would all the bridesmaids. It wasn’t until much later that it slowly dawned on me that the groom and groomsmen would need matching boutonnières as well, what had I gotten myself into?
Because I had offered to do the bouquets for the bride her five bridesmaids plus a toss bouquet for the reception, and all the boutonnières for the groom and groomsmen, I thought, "Well everything else should be consistent", and offered to do the boutonnières / corsages for the parents and grandparents on both sides, all the ceremony decorations, and table decorations for the reception. If that seems like it was a lot of work, you aren’t wrong, but because I enjoy doing what I do, I was up to it.
Now, you might be thinking, “Cool story, but how does this apply to me, the reader?” The point of telling you fine people all of this, of course, is that I decided, while there are a lot of websites that show how to make a ribbon rose, there aren’t a whole lot telling you how to make an entire bouquet out of them without wiring them together and all of that confusing nonsense. Two things I should quickly mention however are 1.all the “flowers” for the bouquets and boutonnières were hand folded out of ribbon and 2. Lyne, my partner was instrumental in the completion of this task.
So, without further ado:
Ribbon Rose tutorial
For these roses, I used ribbon that was 1 ¼” wide and cut the ribbon lengths at two feet. Longer ribbon will make roses with more “petals” But two foot ribbon is the minimum length to get the desired effect. Wider ribbon will create wider roses but make sure your length of ribbon is longer as the wider ribbon eats up more fabric on the folds.
Supplies:
- Ruler
- 1 ¼” Ribbon I find that using 100% acetate ribbon (McGinley is the brand i found) is easiest for making roses as it doesn’t slip as easily as regular ribbon.
- Scissors
- Stapler
- 1 ¼” Ribbon I find that using 100% acetate ribbon (McGinley is the brand i found) is easiest for making roses as it doesn’t slip as easily as regular ribbon.
- Scissors
- Stapler
Step 1.
Cut ribbon diagonally at two foot lengths. The diagonal cuts will help when folding the ribbon in on itself to create the “rose”.
Step 2.
Starting roughly two inches from the edge, fold the ribbon
at a ninety degree angle downwards, over the ribbon, towards your body.
Step 3.
Fold the ribbon Ninety degrees again, always making sure to keep the new fold on top, to the left.
Make sure that you create a small gap between the two ribbons as it
will make the creation of the “rose” easier
Step 4.
Fold the ribbon ninety degrees upwards, away from your body.
Step 5.
Fold ribbon ninety degrees to the right.
Step 6.
Repeat steps two through 5 until you are only left with 1- 2 inches of ribbon to fold
Step 7.
Pinch the folded ribbon tightly with your left index finger and thumb while pushing the pointed edge of the left over unfolded ribbon down through the hole created from folding. (see above picture.)
Step 8.
While holding on to all the layers, pull the ribbon from the back until it creates the “bud”.
Step 9.
Still holding on to all layers except the top layer, twist the top layer to form the center of the “rose”
Release the second layer and twist. Continue with every
layer until desired look is achieved.
Step 10.
Firmly grasp unfolded
edges of ribbon and tightly twist together. Staple the left over ribbon twice
as closely to the rose as possible.
Step 11.
Cut off excess ribbon.
Ribbon Rose Bouquet assembly tutorial
This makes a small “bridesmaid’s bouquet” Obviously a larger
styrofoam ball would make a larger bouquet, it would require about double the
flowers however.
Supplies:
- 4” Styrofoam ball cut in half- 1” dowel cut to desired length of “stems” ( I cut my dowel at 8 1/2" )
- Bouquet cone from craft store
- 1 ½” White satin ribbon
- Glue gun
- 20 – 25 folded ribbon roses ( colors of your choice )
- 1/8” ribbon optional
- Rhinestones ( or any decorations for the bottom of the bouquet )
Step 1.
Cut a hole in the cut side of the styrofoam ball about half
an inch deep, and wide enough to fit the
dowel into.
add hot glue to hole and top of dowel, glue dowel into place.
It should look like this:
Step 2.
Cut Bouquet holder so it slides onto dowel.
Add hot glue to inside edge of ribbon and glue to cut side of Styrofoam.
You should now have this:
Step 3.
Glue a piece of ribbon to bottom of dowel.
Glue satin ribbon to underside of bouquet holder and spiraling down the dowel.
Step 4.
Step 5.
Add Rhinestones or desired decorations to bouquet.
Add Rhinestones or desired decorations to bouquet.
For more pictures of completed decorations, and other cool ideas, check out Lyne’s blog and our website www.royalbash.com
Where did you find the bouquet cone/holder with the collar? I cannot seem to find any that are 4" !
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