SteamPunk Inspired Boutonnieres- Tutorial

Welcome to the second post covering the boutonnieres. In this entry we are going to cover how we completed our DIY gems here.

This was the general loose idea for the boutonnieres. Nothing was set yet, no glue used. In the bottom right corner you can see the sketched ideas and notes we were totally not passing during church. Nope. Nuh-uh. Totally not. *shifty eyes*

But let's break it down.

All of the items were purchased from the Crafting Store Trio: JoAnn's, Michael's, and Hobby Lobby.  The feathers I had purchased pre-bound.  Buttons have been sitting in my box forever, gears, fabric circles to fold in to flowers, and pins. I got really lost in my own mind while making these, and forgot to take pictures at each stage.

Before doing anything else, I went ahead and folded one of the circles to resemble a flower. Not an exact replica, but pretty none-the-less. After pinching the bottom corner, I took needle with thread in a matching color and did several quick-stitches back and forth. Once these were done, the Puma and I were able to lay and design the boutonnieres around it.

Using E6000 glue, I layered a set of gears on top of each other to give it more depth and held it in place with alligator clips. Once that was set we placed to other large gear on top of the feathers, and used E6000 again. We used the hot glue to fuse the flower to the feathers at the binding already there. Once everything was settled and solid, I placed the layered gears on top of the flower and used E6000 again. After that was settled, we unwound a length of the leather cording and added a facetted bead in the corresponding darker blue color. Then began the wrapping and hot glue process. Two layers were put on, with the bead slid in with three more wrap around to go so it would also be secure but not stuck.  Once everything was dried and cooled, flipped it over and added a pin with E6000 glue, holding it in place with alligator clips. The items were left to dry over-night.

And here are the finished products! The pictures on top are of the Puma's special boutonniere. The picture on the bottom are for his groomsmen. Instead of the detailed gear, they got a brassy button.

Total work time? Maybe an hour or two. With all the drying time? A day and a half. But totally worth it. We have customized boutonnieres that my Puma and I have designed. We love them!

Hopefully this may help someone else. Enjoy, thanks for reading, please leave a comment and have a blessed day!