... and DIY Flower Girl Baskets

You may remember that Ann Harris previously did a fab guest post for us about DIY Craft Ideas for Wedding Decorations. Well continuing on the DIY wedding theme, Ann has shared another great post with us, with ideas about how to make your own flower girl baskets!

Image c/o Vita Nostra

Here's a bit about Ann.... Ann Harris lives in Melbourne, Australia with her lovely husband and two beautiful children. She loves to write about love, relationships, beauty, weddings, DIY tips etc. Her hobbies include cooking and reading. Life is beautiful!

DIY Flower Girl Baskets

There are a few things that say traditional wedding louder than the cute walk of a flower girl, grabbing into her flower basket and throwing petals in front of the lady of the day. It is romantic, it is very cute and it makes for a truly complete traditional wedding that everyone will remember for as long as they live. Since no flower girl is complete without her flower basket and since these can get quite pricy, we would like to share with you a way in which you can make your own flower basket.

What you will need

First of all, make sure that you have all of these things before you start making your own flower girl basket.

• A basket – the easiest and the cheapest way to get a basket that will be of roughly the same size as a flower basket is the Easter basket.
• Hot glue gun – it speaks for itself
• Satin fabric – satin is somehow the best fabric for your needs, lush and elegant and thick enough Satin ribbon – same as satin fabric, only a ribbon
• Optional – white cloth, white craft paint and a sponge brush (you will learn why these are optional)

Now we’re working...

It is far more likely that the Easter basket you had bought will not be white but of some other color. Quite often, Easter baskets are very colorful and therefore not really suitable for the job of flower basket. This is why you will want to prepare the basket before you start putting the fabric on it, which you will do later. You do not want the fabric to give out the color underneath.

Kris Timken/Getty Images

The easiest way to do this is to simply go over the basket with white crafts paint, using a sponge brush to make sure you do not make a mess. If you want to go a step further, you can put some kind of a cloth over the basket; surround it from all (or at least most) sides. There is an added bonus to this and that is the covering of the basket physically which can be a good thing because the baskets are sometimes not too well-done and can have sharp sides and splinters that might rip the fabric later.

Image c/o Young House Love

Do the handle...

It is best to first do the handle of the basket as you will want to cover the ends of the handle with the fabric you will use on the “bucket” of your flower basket. You also need to do the handle and the easiest way to do this is to go for the overlapping look. You start from the bottom on one side of the handle and just wrap the satin ribbon going around the whole handle. Once you are done, you will be covering the very ends with the stuff you will do during the next step.

Do the basket...

The easiest way to cover this part of the basket with the satin fabric you have prepared is to go for the rich, “loose” covering, meaning it will not be very tight over the basket. This is easier because you do not have to be particularly precise in your measuring.

Image c/o Fabric.com

You will want to do this by cutting your fabric into strips that will be an inch or two wide and that you will then first glue to the bottom of the basket and then wrap over the sides and glue inside the basket once again. With the “looser” aesthetic, you do not have to worry about making your strips too long. They will just fit inside the basket. If you are going with a tighter look, you will need to measure very precisely.

Add finishing touches...

If you wish, you can always decorate your flower girl basket with additional details such as ribbons on the handle for instance, or flower decorations on the sides. It is all up to you. Before you know it, you will have an entirely unique and one-of-a-kind flower girl basket that you will have made yourself.

Image c/o Stellina

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Thanks Ann for sharing another great guest post with us. Homemade flower girl baskets would make a special addition to any wedding and would be lovely to match with any theme or colour scheme.

You can also check out Ann's website here

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