Wrist Corsage with POOF! Flowers

As promised, I will explain a little more about how I turned smaller versions of the POOF flowers from my last post into beautiful wrist corsages that will last forever!  I used a sewing machine for this project, but I suppose you can do it by hand as well if you've got more time and patience :)  Now that I think about it I bet some big stitches along the side would look quite charming!

 Here is the end result:

One of a kind corsage and memento of the big day!

I was so happy with how they all turned out, and I received lots of compliments and thanks from the recipients.  I was especially flattered to see one of my grandmothers wearing her corsage at my cousin's wedding a few months after mine.

To make the flowers, I started with small versions of the POOF flowers you can find on my previous post.  I used various vintage clip-on earrings and small brooches to create the center of each flower.  Simply hold the flower and squish the petals down a bit until you find the center.  Clip in the earring or pin the brooch and voila!  Finished!  Rearrange the petals evenly around the sides and your flower will now have a little extra sparkle.

I tried to keep earrings together on the same corsage so that the recipient could detach them and wear them if they wanted.  You can also find stamens at any craft store (try the cake decorating section) so for a little variety I glued those in the center of a few flowers as well. 

The band of the corsage took a few extra steps.  I decided to make mine from fabric that was incorporated in other areas of the wedding, but I also thought that a bracelet would work well (provided it didn't move around a lot when wearing it).  I made an outer layer and a liner so that I could hide extra stitching inside.

Liner - Outer Layer (Underside) - Outer Layer (Outside)

liner - I sewed the liner by cutting a strip of fabric about 6 inches wide by 1 foot, folding it in half (with the nice side facing in) and sewing up the outside to make a tube.  Turn the tube inside out and your liner is basically complete, you just need to finish off the ends.  I tucked mine inside the tube and sewed a straight line across each.  You want the finished piece to be about 2.5 inches wide by 9.5 inches long so be sure to measure and plan your hems as needed (of course it can be different width and length depending on your preference). 
outer layer - A tube would work well for the outer layer as well, just make sure that it is slightly longer and wider than your liner.  I made mine by hemming the four sides in, but that took a little bit longer.  As you can see in the above photo I added a little frill by simply sewing them on the underside.
adding flowers - Now it's time to add the flowers!  I used 3-4 flowers per corsage, and also incorporated a few flower brooches to spice things up a bit.  To attach, simply hand stitch them on to the outside of the outer layer.  Stitching a few times around the earrings ensured that nothing accidentaly fell off during the crazy dancing that came during the wedding reception!
combine the layers - Once your flowers are secure, you're ready to sew the liner and outer layer together.  This is the part where you get to hide all of the stitching and pinning that just happened!  It was a bit tricky to sew the two together on the machine, since the flowers got in the way a bit, but it was manageable.  You may find it is easier (and also adorable!) to stitch them together by hand - whatever works!
finishing up - Initially I planned on using buttons to hold the band of the corsage in a loop as you can see below:

In the end I decided against it because I had no wrists to measure and I was afraid of creating something that wouldn't fit my grandmothers/mothers.  I didn't want to waste all of that hard work!  I decided to collect a few hat pins instead, and they worked perfectly for fastening the fabric in place:

Pretty dang cute if you ask me!  I loved the personal touch that they added to the wedding, and since they were something so unique and personalized they doubled as gifts for my mom, mom-in-law, and grandmothers.  I didn't know how the oldest generation would react to this "different" idea, but I got nothing but positive reviews from even the harshest of critics :)

supplies   

small poofy flowers (3-4 per corsage)

liner fabric

outer fabric

needle and thread

sewing machine

scissors

brooches

hat pins

Please let me know if you would like to see photos of each step for the sewing section, it can get a bit tough to describe everything with only words.

If you love this idea but don't have time to make it yourself email me at diyandiblog.gmail.com and I would be happy to discuss different options :)

do it yourself - and i'll help