DIY Boutonniere

I love pins, brooches, and anything you can clip, stick or fasten to something else. 

I was looking through some mens street swear shots and was inspired by the classic rose boutonniere on a lapel.  Here is my more casual, more feminine version. I hope you enjoy! 

First of all, pick your flowers. I got these from a street vendor, right by my metro station.

In my tutorial, I've only used one flower, however you can have as many as you would like. Just arrange them in your mini bouquet, how you would like them to look in the boutonniere.

You will need : flowers, florist tape, scissors and large pins

Cut your stem so its about four or five inches long

If you have never worked with florist tape before don't worry, the only thing you need to know is that you have to stretch the tape to release "the sticky".  Maybe practice wrapping up a pen or pencil first, before you go to town on that perfect stem.

The tricky part is getting the initial adhesion at the top of the stem, pull the tape tight and wrap it around twice to get a solid start. Then start angling the tape, working your way down the stem ( or stems )  like so. Be sure to always be tugging a little bit on the tape so it sticks together.

Once your done just tear the tape and seal up the loose end

Now, fold your stem in half and begin wrapping again. This time starting from the bottom up, wrapping up the folded stem ( don't worry if your stem breaks, as you can see mine did here, it all depends on the strength of the flower you choose).

Wrap, wrap, wrap and seal off the end.

Now take your pin and tape  it in place, leaving half of it exposed

 Attach to a lapel and your all done!

The perfect floral addition to a blazer, giving it that spring/summer touch.

Or a great way to save some costs while putting on a wedding.