Brooch Bouquet DIY: Part 2

As promised, here's part 2 of the Brooch Bouquet DIY! I loved making these bouquets for my sister's wedding, and I'm tickled to share the directions with all of you;)

Supplies

-a circle of satin fabric with a rolled of serged hem

-a little square of the same fabric

-matching satin ribbon, 1 1/2"

-contrasting satin ribbon, 1/2"

-a pretty rhinestone button for an accent

-glue gun

-scissors

1. Start with the square of satin. I made it about a inch and a half square, just to cover the very end of the holder. Put a dot of glue in each corner and glue them to the holder bottom, making a little encased end.

2. Take your circle of fabric next. I made mine a little wider than the base of the holder, so it would come out a little over the brooches. Cut a hole in the center of the circle slightly larger than the stem on the holder, and put the stem through this. Then, start to pleat the fabric and glue it down to the base, going slowly and gluing each pleat down carefully so everything is held to the base and no plastic or foam is showing.

3. Next, take your ribbon and start to twine it around the stem. Glue the end first, and then glue at regular intervals to keep the ribbon very smooth and secure so there is no white plastic showing. My holder's stem was slightly irregular in shape, so this created wrinkles in the ribbon; that's okay! It actually gave it a less-perfect appearance, which was nice.

4. At the bottom, cut your ribbon and turn the end under, gluing it down so that every bit of white is covered in ribbon or fabric.

5. Finally, at the place where the stem meets the base, I took the contrasting ribbon and made a simple band, covering the seam with three tiny rhinestone buttons for a bit of bling. Remember that you'll be holding the stem pretty tightly on the day of your wedding, so you don't want anything sharp or uncomfortable where your hands will be!

Voila! Your brooch bouquet is ready for your big day! A few extra tips: as you can see from the pics, I turned the bouquet upside down to work on it; this was accomplished by covering it first with a cloth napkin and then holding the top as I flipped it onto my lap, so that none of the brooches went astray. It also protected my legs from any sharp bits from the brooches!

I hope this is helpful to those of you thinking of doing this project for your own wedding; it's time-consuming, but totally worth it! Happy DIY-fun, everybody!