How to Make Paper Towel Flowers

I love to decorate my home with dried hydrangeas in the fall! You can see in my fall home tour and fall porch that I used a lot of limelight hydrangeas in my decor this year. But what if you aren’t fortunate enough to have your own hydrangea bushes to cut from? Buying hydrangeas in my area can be quite expensive at the grocery store or flower market. So today, I thought it would be fun to save some money on fresh flowers and create a bushel of paper towel hydrangeas! It’s very easy, and I’ll show you how.

How to Make Paper Towel Flowers

Supplies Needed:

• 1 Roll of paper towel
• Scissors
• Floral Wire
• Faux leaves (optional)

Step 1 Paper Towel Flower: Stack 5 paper towels.

If you are using custom-sized paper towel, you will need to tear off two sheets of paper towel to create a standard size paper towel. Do this 5 times and stack your sheets on top of one another.

Step 2 Paper Towel Flower: Scallop edges.

Use your scissors to cut a scallop design around the perimeter of your paper towels. This does not need to be perfect but try to obtain a smooth and rounded edge.

Step 3 Paper Towel Flower: Fold like an accordion.

Fold your paper towel as if you are creating a paper fan. You will fold it “accordion style” creating smooth creases as you fold.

Step 4 Paper Towel Flower: Pinch & secure.

Pinch your folded paper towel in the center…

…and secure with floral wire or beading wire.

Step 5 Paper Towel Flower: Separate and fluff.

Most paper towels are two-ply. You will want to separate each layer of paper towel carefully to ensure a fluffy paper flower. Do this on both ends of your flower.

Step 6 Paper Towel Flower: Secure each end and cut in middle.

Each paper towel bundle will create two flowers. Remove the wire you previously placed in the center and position it on one end. Cut some more wire and secure the other end. Using your scissors, cut down the center. (Note: You can secure your wire on each end on Step 4, but I liked this method better. Sometimes I needed to move my wire tighter on the neck of each flower depending on the fluffiness of the “petals”.)

Step 7 Paper Towel Flower: Fluff and enjoy!

You did it! To complete the look of your paper towel hydrangeas glue faux or real leaves to the flower. This step is optional but adds interest to the flowers.

I created enough paper towel flowers to fill a large basket and love the effect. The bonus of these flowers is that when you are tired of them you can use them to dust or wipe down counters. They work great on cleaning bathroom mirrors!

I saved one to show off in my fall vignette and think it looks pretty amazing for a paper towel!

Decorating props and accessories for your home never have to cost a lot of money. If real flowers aren’t in the budget this month, see if a roll of paper towel just might work in a pinch!

P.S. Want a peak into my personal side? Today I am being interviewed over on Porch.com as a featured blogger for their On the Front Porch series. Come on over and join us for some front porch gabbing as I share my DIY weapon of choice, the hardest thing about blogging, the weirdest thing I ever collected, and that one time when I tried to make a gigantic sand dollar! 🙂

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