making wedding buttonholes

loisamelia

I am getting married next tuesday and am obviously trying to save a bit of money by doing the flowers myself
a bouquet for me will be simple as its going to be small and hand tied
my quetsion is how do i make buttonholes?
any ideas anyone?
Lois

Lillibet_2

One flower & one leaf/bit of greenery, held together with (green) electrical tape around the steams. Or just one flower if you keep it to something simple but effective like a rose, daisy or gardenia.

Keep flowers in the fridge until needed to keep them fresh, and in the dark if you want to avoid the blooms opening any further.

HTH & congratulations;)

Bargain_Rzl

I help with the buttonholes for the orchestra & chorus at the Last Night of the Proms and this is how we do them - per buttonhole, you need:

One carnation
One smallish piece of fern (I can find out, if you like, what quantity of fern you need per number of carnations - I don't do the ordering just the making!)
Green florists' tape (gutter-roll)
Florists' wire

Trim the carnation and fern as necessary (if you align the stems, fern should be about 1/3 longer than carnation). Then, taking a length of florist's wire, stick one end in the fleshy part of the carnation just beneath the flower, and bind the fern to the flower by winding the wire in a diagonal criss-cross pattern down the stem and back up again. Now take a piece of tape and bind the stem down and up again to cover the wire (the tape should be stretched while you do this so it sticks to itself automatically). Open out the flower if it needs it, and there you are. Make sure you have an adequate supply of large pins (don't know if you can buy special "florists' pins" but normal dressmakers' pins are a bit too small for the task).

Can be fiddly if you don't know what you're doing, so a trial run is handy on a couple of your less decent blooms, and if you're any good at division, it may help you to know that to make 400 of the above it takes approx 12 people 2.5 hours, working on a "production line" and the flowers and ferns are ordered in advance and collected no more than 24 hours before they are required to be worn.

melancholly

when i was at university i asked a florist to put some flowers on wire for me to wear in my hair at a ball - it only cost 50p extra - maybe if you avoid telling them it's for a wedding then they might be nice and helpful?!

hope it all goes well on tuesday!

lister

Bargain_Rzl wrote:

One smallish piece of fern (I can find out, if you like, what quantity of fern you need per number of carnations - I don't do the ordering just the making!)
Green florists' tape (gutter-roll)
Florists' wire

You are better off with either parafilm or stemtex (although some florists will call it all generically gutter roll - but that is normally just the cheapest brand, and it is difficult to work with).

Ask for something like a 30 gauge (0.32 mm) wire for supporting leaves and 26 gauge (0.46mm) or 24 gauge (0.56mm) for wiring heavier flowers like cars.

You can buy both tape and wires from most garden centres these days as many florists are reluctant to sell it to you.

Traditionally asparagus fern is used as the backing, and one or two stems will do dozens of button holes. I prefer using leatherleaf or even ivy out of the garden as asparagus fern is very fine and tends to shed badly as it dehydrates.

Bargain_Rzl wrote:

Then, taking a length of florist's wire, stick one end in the fleshy part of the carnation just beneath the flower, and bind the fern to the flower by winding the wire in a diagonal criss-cross pattern down the stem and back up again.

How heavy are your buttonholes? :rolleyes:

Far too much wire - that is like a double leg mount with attitude. For carnations you just need a single leg mount by running the wire straight down the stem rather than spiralling, and you certainly don't need to come back up again. Trim the wire to the end of the stem and gutter (wrap with tape - see below)

Bargain_Rzl wrote:

Now take a piece of tape and bind the stem down and up again to cover the wire (the tape should be stretched while you do this so it sticks to itself automatically).

Too much stuff! Just go down the stem once, being careful to cover the wire all the way down and over the end.

Golden rule of any wired work - use as little wire and tape as possible. It all adds weight (not a huge problem with button holes) and makes the binding look clumsy (which is very evident on buttonholes).

Bargain_Rzl wrote:

Open out the flower if it needs it, and there you are.

In case the OP doesn't get this bit - just gently rub your thumb in a circular motion over the top of the flower to push the petals apart a little.

You also need to mount the leaves to give support and control. This bit is much harder to describe without pictures as it depends on the material. For ivy, you get a lighter wire and put a little stitch across the main vein about two thirds of the way up the leaf. Put your thumb across the stich and fold the arms of the wire down the back, cutting them off a few cm longer than the stem. Then gutter the stem and wire legs together. Then play around and see just how you can bend and shape the leaf - it is pretty suprising when you first do it.

For leatherleaf or asparagus fern, you need to make a little tight loop of lighter wire around the stem with one leg of wire shorter than the other. You then spiral the longer leg tightly around the shorter and gutter down the stem and wire with tape.

Then just press the leaf and flower together (the tape should stick to itself almost), and using more tape, gutter the pieces together. You can add as many leaves and flowers as you like (I often use a flower and a bud, together with several pieces of fern for a 'premium' buttonhole for example). If you use more material, weight starts to become more of an issue, particularly if they are going to be worm by women on light blouses...

P.S. A good florist should only charge a £1 for a carnation buttonhole, so they may not be as expensive to buy as you think. Rose buttonholes are more expensive though - especially if you want it traditional with rose leaves (don't do it - they look dreadful if the day is remotely hot).

loisamelia

Brilliant thanks for all your help
you've given me some great ideas
i have jewellery wire around here somewhere so hopefully that will do the trick
Lois

lister

loisamelia wrote:

Brilliant thanks for all your help
you've given me some great ideas
i have jewellery wire around here somewhere so hopefully that will do the trick
Lois

You need a stiffish wire (can be bent by fingers but requires a little force) for the flowers. The leaves can be done with a much softer more flexible wire.

You can also keep the buttonholes in the fridge to keep them fresh better, particularly if they are hot. Another trick used by florists is to spray tissue paper with water and place it over the flowers to help keep them fresh (better that way than spraying the flowers direct as it can mark the petals if you do).

I also forgot to mention that you might be better off internally wiring carnations if you decide to use them. To do this you chop the flower off with about 1-2 cm of stalk. Then feed the wire straight up inside the stalk. You will feel a little resistance as it enters the calyx, but just push gently through until you see the wire peeking out of the top of the flower. Fold the end of the wire into a small hook (use pliers if necessary), then pull it back down agin until it engages with the calyx and disappears from view. Then just tape down the stem and wire to an appropriate length. The reason for doing this is that carnations have heads which can snap quite easily if bashed at all. This way the head is held on if that happens, so you hopefully don't get headless carnations on peoples' lapels... It is also a slightly neater and lighter finish, but it does take just a shade longer.

starlite_2

Gosh I'm amazed , yet again, at the wealth of advice msers can offer on even the most ranom of subjects! lol

All I can offer is a cheap solution to keep the flowers fresh for longer..

stand them in a solution of 1 part warm water and 1 part lemonade,

loisamelia

Thanks all
I just wanted to let you know we did the flowers and they were excellent, everyone at the wedding thought so and they only cost me £17 for all the buttonholes and my bouquet so i am well happy
the day was lovely too
Lois x

pavlovs_dog

lol, google threw up trusy MSE when i was looking for info on making buttonholes/corsages. i thought this link might be of interest - it contains video instructions for making all sorts of floral arrangements, buttonholes, etc which are very clear and easy to follow

trackerC

Hi
I did my own flowers & buttonholes for my wedding - it was quite a formal do at Christmas time. I actually bought a set of about 12 fake buttonholes from ebay really cheap, which meant that I had the basics already there. I then bought the main flowers (mine being grand prix roses) & added these, plus some berries from the garden (you could use anything that matches your style) to the buttonholes & wrapped around with ribbon. Everyone could see the true real flowers & all had a sniff but all that was required was making an addition. Made everything so much easier & looked great. So many compliments & frankly so moneysaving!
Hope that helps