Spring is here! I want to bring my mother-in-law a pretty bouquet when we visit for Easter, but cut flowers make me so sad! They come from so far away and are usually grown with all sorts of nasty pesticides. Rather than head to the flower shop, I decided to head to my gigantic scrap bin and make her a pretty bouquet that would last longer than a live one and was more personal to boot!

All you need is some long fabric scraps, floral wire, pinking shears, felt, needle, thread, fabric glue, and a couple of vintage buttons.

To get started, use your pinking shears to cut your scraps into strips that are about an inch wide and four to eight inches long. There are two ways you can put these little guys together, depending on the size of your scraps. Either fold the scraps in half and layer them loop-side out, or cut longer scraps, and fold the ends into the center. Either way, you end up with a similar result which you’ll secure into place with a straight pin:

I opted to bunch some tulle scraps that I had behind the first flower and use the same tulle gathered on top of the second one. I think it makes it feel a little more romantic, but it’s totally optional.

Now sew a few stitches through the center, being careful to trap all of the fabric. Once everything is secure, you can remove the pin and sew a button onto the front!

You’re almost done! Grab that piece of floral wire, fold it in half off center, and make a 1″ loop on each of the ends. Now, cut yourself a couple of small pieces of felt, maybe around 1.5″ square, and apply a generous amount of fabric glue. Your goal here is to sandwich the loop of wire between the back of the flower and the felt. Once the glue dries, it will also make your flower’s head a little more sturdy without adding too much weight:

The glue will probably need to set overnight to dry completely. Once it’s dry, you have a couple of options! I dug out a vintage wooden spool of thread and used that as my “vase.” You could also put your bouquet into a small pot or vintage teacup full of rocks or marbles. If you want to treat it more like a traditional bouquet, you can wrap the base in some pretty ribbon, and secure it with a decorative straight pin!

Variations
The design is based on something a girlfriend made for me a few years ago. She wrapped my birthday present with a beautiful fabric scrap flower on top. I loved it so much that I glued a pin back onto it and it’s still one of my favorite accessories for sassing up a boring jacket or dress. If you’d rather make a brooch than a bouquet, just sew a pin back onto the piece of felt before you glue it onto the back of the flower instead of making the wire sandwich. You could turn this into a hair clip by doing basically the same thing. There are probably a ton of other uses for these sweet little scrap flowers, too, so get creative! This is such a fun way to make a dent in your scrap bin, which is something I’m always looking to do: