Hedgerow Chair back Tutorial
If you are UK based, I am sure you will have noticed, that the hedgerows are bursting with wild flowers at the moment; cow parsley, buttercups and daisies are everywhere, even along the side of the motorway near where I live. This month's flower tutorial with Caroline from Wild Rubus, is the perfect way to use a small amount of them to decorate a chair back, for a party, a wedding, or perhaps just an al fresco meal with friends. And if you are wondering about the laws surrounding foraging for flowers, Caroline and I believe you are allowed to, as long as it is not an endangered species, you don't damage the integrity of the plant and you pick where there is a mass of flowers. But if you feel at all uncomfortable about it, then it is worth googling just to check.
You will need:
A selection of hedgerow flowers, grasses and foliage, we used: 15 Oxeye Daisies, 20 stems of different grasses, 1 x stems of soft ruscous foliage, 2 x alchemilla mollis, 2 x stems of September
Scissors
Approximately 1.5 metres of ribbon
Reel wire
1. Tie a knot at each end of the ribbon, approximately where you would like the arrangement to start and finish on the chair back.
2. Mark the centre of the ribbon with a pin.
3. Attach the reel wire where you have placed one of the knots, by twisting it round a few times.
4. Make a little posy with a selection of your flowers and foliage, and attach it to the ribbon by wrapping the reel wire around it at least twice. Trim the stems down so they aren't too long.
5. Keep adding posies, in the same way covering the previous stems, until you get to the centre of the ribbon.
6. Cut off the wire and wrap it round the ribbon a few times to secure.
7. Start again coming from the opposite direction, beginning where you placed the other knot.
8. Continue until you meet in the middle.
9. When you get to the centre, you can either tie a ribbon or add a flower to hide the join.
Hints & Tips:
This is quite fiddly, so you will need to be patient, but it does get easier as you go along.
Remember to remove any leaves from the bottom of the stems before you attach them.
Ensure you wrap the reel wire tightly around the ribbon so it is secure.
If you find it easier, you can always add in one flower at a time.
Instead of starting at each end of the ribbon and meeting in the middle, you can also go all along the ribbon in one direction, as I have done below:
I you hop over to Caroline's blog, you can read what Caroline has to say about the arrangement.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Emma x