Corsage and Boutonniere

You may need to make a corsage a few times in your life for weddings, prom, or dances. This Corsage and Boutonniere were made without any real flowers. If it is out of season or you just can't find the flowers you want, then you can still make a good looking corsage out of only fake ingredients.

-A pair of pliers that can cut wire.
-Scissors
-Florists wire
-Florists tape
-A corsage wrist piece
-Ribbon of your choice (always have more than you need)
-Fake flowers of your choice
-Small gauge wire - must fit your beads
-Feathers, beads, etc

You need to cut 12 or so inches with the width of this ribbon. You may be able to cut less to make your flower but I would rather cut too much and trim it since I had plenty of ribbon.

Fold the ribbon in half, so that you make a triangle. Then fold the bottom ribbon over, and keep folding the bottom ribbon over until you get to the ebbs of the ribbon. You can hold the last folds together and let go of the ribbon. Pull the bottom ribbon through and it will collapse your folds into a flower. If you pull too far you will have to start over.

Next take a peice of florists tape and wrap it around the base to keep it from unraveling. Cut the extra ribbon off, then take some wire and add it to the base. This is so you can manipulate the flower after you finish it. Finish wrapping the base. You can fluff your flowers petals and you're done.

Repeat three or four times, or until you have as many as you need.

Take your accents and figure out something that will look good with your ribbon flowers. Once you have something that looks good wrap the base in florists tape to keep it together.

To decorate the outside of the corsage take your fake flowers and tape them together. Once you do that you can try different configurations to choose the one you like best. You can hold the centerpiece together with florists tape or florists wire. I chose wire, then twisted it tight and tucked it in.

Once I finished using the fake flowers there was still bare areas on the outsides. This step and the next one will finish the corsage.

Take your beads and thread them onto your small gauge wire. You need to tie knots in the ends of the wire to keep the beads from falling off. After you finish threading the beads you need to fold the strand in half and make a stem out of wire for it. Make four of these. Once you have for you can tape them together so that they fit under your center peice.

The last thing to make for the corsage are these small ribbon flowers. They will help conceal the rest of the florists tape so that it looks better. Make 6 or so for each side of the corsage. You make them the same way as the larger blue flowers, but with thinner ribbon. Even with my small hands I couldn't get florists tape behind the flowers to tape them to the centerpiece, so I had to use florists wire. Just wrap the wire around the center peice and twist it, then use your pliers to twist it as tight as you need to. Cut the twisted wire down and bend it so that it cannot scratch the wearers wrist. The last thing you need to do is put the wrist strap on! You may need to use wire because it is very malleable metal, and may fall off if you do not secure it right.

The boutonniere should be easy now that you've finished the corsage. Take one of your fake flowers and one of your ribbon flowers and tape them together. Grab some of your leftover decorations and add them to the boutonniere. You want to keep it simple, but you can add a few things.

I hope you enjoyed this instructable! If you liked it don't forget to vote!