A Bouquet of Flowers Made From Garlic Mesh Bags

I'm a big supporter of recycled items. I had accumulated quite a few garlic mesh bags thinking I could do something with them. And I did. I used them to organize and secure my nylon embroidery thread from becoming undone.

But, these soft, netted bags had started to pile up. They come mostly in white, but there are some purple and plum colored ones. I scoured the Internet to find out what others had done with them. No on had made them into flowers (or maybe Google didn't pick them up).

Since nobody had made flowers out of garlic bags, and in order to celebrate the arrival of spring, I thought why I don't I try my hands on turning them into flowers. So, here are the instructions on how to turn garlic mesh bags into spring flowers.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

1.    Half a dozen garlic mesh bags of various colors. I have white, purple and plum.
2.    Tiny button flowers to accessorize the flower petals. I purchased this at the fabric store - in the craft section. You can also use beads or sequins.
3.    Roll of craft wire.
4.    Pliers.
5.    Scissors.
6.    Ruler.
7.    Roll of green paper garland. Preferable dark green, but this will do. You can buy this at the craft store or at a special event store.
8.    Paper glue.
9.    Mini vase.

Optional: One red colored onion mesh bag and a packet of baby's breath flowers for added decoration.

Step 2: Making the Flower

Depending on the size of your vase, you'll need to make more than a dozen flowers. I decided to make 24 flowers in white, purple and plum. For this step, you need to:

-- Cut mesh bags 4" long. I required a total of 24 of these small sections.
-- Using pliers, cut 24 pieces of 4" long craft wire to tie the petals.
-- 24 small flower buttons to add to the center of the flower.

The main picture in this step shows samples of the materials I need to make the flowers.

1. Okay, so to make the flower: open the 4" mesh bag inside-out to double the thickness as shown in the second image.

2. To make a petal, cut the mesh down to 1". You can cut up to six petals.

3. Then, insert the tiny flower in the center, pinch the end side of the flower and tie it with the craft wire. You can use the pliers to reinforce and tightened the wire around.

You can make different variations. Then, put aside.

Step 3: Making the Leaves

In this project, I used mostly one leaf per flower. You'll need the craft wire and a roll of green paper garland. You can always substitute this with other paper crafts. I prefer this as it's thin and shows a nice wrinkly texture.

To make the leaves:

1. Fold the paper garland into 2" x 2" six to 10 times. Then, cut it into leaves as shown in the picture.

Make as many batches as you need.

2. Take one wire and smear glue on half of the wire (about 2" from the top). Next, put the wire on the leaf.

3. Take a new leaf and press it on the top with the wire sandwiched between the two leaves.

Don't worry if the leaf is slightly crooked. You can always trim them later. Assemble all you need and put them aside to dry.

Step 4: Assemble the Flower and Leaf

Now you're ready to attach the leaves to the flowers.

1. Take one flower and a leaf, then wrap the leaf wire around the flower bottom. Use pliers to tighten the wire.

2. Cut pieces of craft wire 12" long. This will form as the stock. Starting at the center of the wire, wrap the wire around the flower bottom and secure the wire by locking them together.

4. Cut pieces of green paper garland in 12" lengths. Then cut each half lengthwise to make 24" pieces to cover the exposed wire of the flower stock.

5. Dab glue along the piece and wrap it around the bare stock of the flower.

The completed flower looks like the fifth image.

Make all you need and put them aside to dry.

Step 5: Arrange Flowers in the Vase

Get the vase and decorate it with the red mesh bag.

Finally, the flowers are ready to be arranged in the vase. Voila! Here is the final result:

I really enjoyed making them. Not only am I happy, I know I can help the environment through this recycling project. I hope you are, too. You can make different projects using these versatile mesh bags, like floral brooches, hair pins, etc. Good luck and happy crafting!