Weddingbee boards

Anyone who can thread a needle and simple-sew can make their own hair flower. I used:

• Fake flowers of choice from craft store
• White thread
• Pins
• Pearl-looking beads from craft store
• Alligator barrette

TIP: When you go to the craft store for your supplies, look for fake flowers that can be easily pulled apart. Most fake flowers are made with a plastic center and fabric flower petals stacked and then backed by another hard green plastic piece. I would recommend looking for fake peonies, rannucluses or other large fluffy looking flowers. I would not recommend using fake roses, mostly because the fake petals are so tightly packed, you may not be able to get the soft look that is very IN right now.

Start with popping the flower heads off the stems:

Then, pull apart the flowers themselves so you have loose fabric petals.

Play around with the petals, stacking them into a shape you want. You can use less or more depending on how full or fluffy you want the flower, or you can use less of the larger outer petals depending on how large or small you want your flower.

Once you have a stack that looks good to you, pin the layers together so the stack stays together the way you like it.

Once you have the layers stacked, starting from the underside of the flower, start sewing a simple stich in the center to get the pieces to hold together. After about 5-8 pass-throughs, get out your pearl beads.

In order to speed things up, I added the beads in while I was sewing the flower together itself. After a few pass-throughs, I started to add beads on my needle while I was sewing. At first, I added one large bead per pass, and then I started to add on other smaller beads, several at a time, onto the thread before making my next pass through. In this way, you'll get a cluster look to the center of your flower.

You'll want to make sure you pull the thread tight each time, otherwise, the beads will end up loose on top of the flower. Continue to pass-through, adding beads each time until you get the size bead cluster you want.

Once the top of your flower looks good to you, you'll want to start to sew on your alligator barrette. Again, starting from the back side of the flower, simple sew each outer edge of the barrette to the back of the flower. You will end up stitching through the bead cluster on top, but don't worry, there will be enough room to get through the beads and the beads will hide most of your stitches underneath them. When you pull your thread through the top of the flower, try to sew back between the same beads you came through, thus making your stitch go back under the beads.

I probably sewed each side of my barrette about 20-30 times before I felt comfortable that the barrette was going to stay in place. I will advised though that over time the metal edges of the alligator barrette will wear on the stitching, so don't play with the flower more than you have to. Or, my other suggestion would be to wrap the edges of the barrette you plan to sew in a very small amount of clear tape in order to "coat" the edges of the barrette and help prevent some of the wear and tear on your work.

Otherwise, you're done! Admire your handi-work, you crafty bride, you!

Ahhh thank you so much for showing me how to do this!  I am so excited to try to make my own!  Thanks thanks thanks!