How to Make a Hand Tied Bouquet

Welcome to our guide on how to make this hand tied bouquet. It's easy to do, and produces great results to make a beautiful gift even more special.

You will need a decent selection of flowers (we've used 3 bunches and some assorted foliage), scissors and twine or raffia to make the basic bouquet. We've also included some suggestions for different presentation techniques - make an 'aqua pack' using cellophane wrap, add a living vase, or overwrap in cello and tissue. Read on to find out how! 

Step 1: Start by laying out your flowers. Have a nice clean workspace and prepare each stem for use (you will be very short of hands when you're making the hand tied!). Strip all lower leaves from the stems and have your tape or raffia ready to pick up. Lay the flowers out in groups so you can select them easily while building the bunch. Don't worry about trimming stem ends to length at this stage, you will do that later on.
Step 2: Take the central flower (this is the one that you want to appear in the top centre of your bunch. We're using Asiatic Lilies, Glads (yes really, they can look amazing used in the right way!), Spider Chrysanths and Larkspur, all in cool creamy ivory and white shades. Eat your heart out Dame Edna :-)
Take the next stem and lay it over the first stem, so that it crosses at a slight angle. The point where they cross is called the 'binding point', and that's where all the stems will cross. Regardless of how tall you make your hand tied bunch, aim for roughly 2/3 above the binding point and 1/3 below it. These proportions not only look right but also make a nice stable bunch.

Step 3: Add a few more stems, starting to create a spiral effect. Keep crossing them on the binding point, working clockwise lay each new stem with the stem end to the right of the existing bunch and the flower heads to the left.
Step 4: Now cheat a little! When you have about 7 or 8 stems in your hand, take a piece of twine or raffia and tie the bunch up fairly tightly. Not only does it give your hands a rest, it also gives you a stable 'core' to work on. If you're thinking that it looks more like an untidy bunch than a spiral at this point, you're quite right, but don't worry. Now you have created the right shape, the bouquet will grow really easily into a lovely spiral as you add more material.
Step 5: Add more stems to the core. Holding it at the binding point, keep working around the bunch clockwise, adding each new stem to the right of the last one, stem angled right and head angled left. Add some stems of foliage, then more flower stems. Place the flowers so that the heads appear roughly at the right height to create a nice domed bunch - you will be able to adjust the height slightly later on but get them as near to the right position as you can.
Step 6: Pick your bunch up from time to time and check for balance and placement. Don't worry that they look more tightly 'bunched' than you want at this stage, just keep adding material until you are happy that you have enough in the bunch, keeping all the stems held tight at the binding point at all times.
Step 7: Take some raffia and make a first tie around all the stems. Tie quite tightly and lay them down while you rest your hands and clear away any waste bits and pieces to leave a nice clean level worksurface.
Step 8: Take the scissors and cut the stems roughly to length. There's no need to be too precise, but get them reasonably level
Step 9: Stand the bunch up. If it feels a bit shaky or won't balance, don't panic. Hold the bunch at the binding point, and work around the stems, splaying them out properly at the bottom and making little adjustments. If you can see that a stem isn't touching the worksurface, pull it down a little so it finds its place. If you have a flower head sticking too far up, wiggle it down a bit and trim a tiny bit off the stem so it's the right length. 5 minutes work at this point gets you from the pic above to the glorious bunch on the right! When you're happy and the arrangment is standing nice and firmly, take a final length of raffia, bind around the binding point 2 or 3 times and tie it off really tightly so the stems are fixed in place.
Step 10: A great way to present a hand tied is in a 'living vase' or transporter box. These come flat packed, as in the picture on the right.
They make up like this - if you are using one, slot all the tabs together and then reopen one side. It's much easier to slot your flowers in through the open side and then close the box around them than to wiggle all those stems through the neck of the living vase!
Here's the finished arrangement in the living vase.
Step 11: If you're feeling very trendy or you want the flowers to last longer in the hand tied bunch, why not do an 'aqua pack'? You need some cellophane wrap, we're using clear wrap to show exactly what we're doing, but you can use patterned wraps or tissue paper inserts if you prefer. Use 80cm wide wrap, and cut about 1.5 metres. Fold it double, lay it on a flat surface and stand your bunch in the middle.
Using sellotape, pick up and pleat the wrap around the bunch, drawing it to the binding point. Use enough tape to make sure the wrap stays bunched up, but leave an opening at the front to add the water.
Add water carefully - a long spouted watering can is really handy for this. Don't fill to the brim, and make sure you fill inside the inner layer and not between the layers!
Bring the remaining wrap up to the binding point and tape it in place. Add a couple more turns of tape around the whole bunch for safety. Obviously if the bunch was knocked over, it would leak, but as long as it stays upright you will have a completely waterproof (and really impressive!) bouquet now.
Slide the aqua pack into the living vase using the technique described above. Close up the front and you have a beautiful elegant finish
Step 12: We have so many beautiful wraps to choose from, we couldn't resist showing this technique if you fancy wrapping your handtied bouquet. We're using 'Lunar' in Ivory/White and yellow tissue. Lay the tissue on the wrap and cut a 1.5 - 2" margin all round. Cut another piece of wrap the same size.
Fold one piece of wrap with the tissue as shown, so the tissue is 'sandwiched' inside the wrap. By folding it off centre you create 4 'handkerchief' points that look really attractive on the flowers.
Fold the wrap around the bouquet, gathering the folded bit of the wrap to the binding point of the bouquet. Use a small piece of tape to secure it.
Take each handkerchief point and give it a little tug upwards to make it stand up. If you want to leave the front 'open' you can do so, we're using a second piece of wrap to finish it, but leaving the tissue paper out of this piece.
Fold the second piece of wrap in a similar way, and add it to the front of the bouquet. Secure at the back with another piece of tape.
The completed bouquet. Slip into a living vase for a really special and elegant finish. This bouquet was made with 3 bunches of supermarket flowers and some inexpensive accessories - we think it looks great!
We hope you have enjoyed this guide and feel inspired to make your own arrangements. If you want to shop for supplies now, please visit our Ebay shop or click on any of the pictures below to search products.

Cello wrap - over 40 patterns to choose from

Tissue paper - in 10 glorious colours

Living vases in 6 lovely shades

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