Simply Sweet Place Card Holder

As the BFF and I were planning her gorgeous wedding, we both stumbled upon this tutorial for these amazing chiffon flowers on Pinterest and knew that they had to be incorporated somehow into her decor. When we were brainstorming ideas for her place card holder, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to use these gorgeous flowers.

If I’m being 100% honest (which I always try to be with you), I wasn’t a fan of the tutorial that accompanied these flowers, so I set out to figure out a way to make these beauties that didn’t involve hand sewing. Here is my streamlined-ish method for making these pretties, plus the rest of the tutorial to finish making the place card holder!

Materials

2 floral foam rectangles * foam board * one yd white felt

2 yds. each chiffon, organza, lace, and tulle * scrapbook gems * hot glue gun

sewing machine * thread to match fabric

1. Measure and cut your fabric:

• 1 pc. felt: 46″ x 20″
• 1 pc. chiffon: 46″ x 20″
• the rest of the fabric will be cut into 5.5″ squares

2. Create stacks of fabric and pin in the center. Mine were 15 layers thick in this order from top to bottom:

• 2 layers of chiffon
• 2 layers of lace
• 2 layers of organza
• 2 layers of tulle
• 1 layer of chiffon
• 2 layers of tulle
• 2 layers of organza
• 2 layers of lace

3. Either print out or draw the flower shape that you’d like. I free-handed mine, but I know that not everyone has that ability. 😉 Add the pattern to the top of your stack and pin it in with the rest of the fabric. Cut carefully around the pattern. Make sure your scissors are sharp and we also found that it helps to add a scrap piece of paper to the back of the stack when cutting. You’ll end up with a lovely stack of flowers ready to be sewn together.

4. With your sewing machine prepped and ready to go, take one pinned flower stack and twist the top half-ish of the layers around so you no longer have a perfectly lined-up stack of fabric.

5. Fold half of the layers in along the stitch.

6. Sew another straight stitch on the layers with the fold still in place. This stitch will run perpendicular to the original straight stitch. (Can I take a moment to say I’m proud of myself for using the word perpendicular for the first time since high school?) Repeat the fold and stitch on the other side as well.

7. Once the extra stitches are in, your flowers will have a little bit of body to them, perfect for our little project. Put them to the side as you prepare the board.

8. Glue the two floral foam rectangles together on the short side. When they are dry, glue the foam board in the center of the floral foam rectangles. This will give it extra stability and create a strong foam base.

9. Lay out the white felt and place the foam base on top. Beginning in the center on each side, hot glue the felt taut down each side.

10. Once you reach the end, you’ll end up folding and gluing the felt in place just like you would when you wrap a gift. Start by gluing in the sides first and then wrap the bottom felt to the top. Glue very securely.

11. Repeat the process with the chiffon.

12. It’s time to start adding the flowers now! Starting in the middle, hot glue flowers along the outside front and side edges. Hot glue any petals up that my be falling forward with a small dab of glue. Don’t they look pretty?

13. Last step! Carefully place the jewels in the center of the front  flowers. If they don’t stick really well, you can always add a little glue to each one to make sure they stay in place.

Voila! Didn’t she turn out lovely? I wish I would have gotten a picture of it in action at the reception, but my job was taking care of the BFF. You know how it is. 🙂

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