Vintage Millinery Flowers

A collection of freshly steamed millinery flowers on a silver tier tray- what a pretty accent for a dressing table.

A chartruese velvet roses is placed next to a bouquet of white lilacs on a silver tray.

found this old pink velvet rose in London on Portobello Road in 1991! I remember getting cold chill bumps when I spotted it!

Love the little velvet cherries on the old headband.

tying a collection of several flowers together for a sweet tussie mussie.

Adore this hard to find orange color.

velvet flower just being taken out of storage box- crumpled up.

Heating a pot filled half way with water to boiling and placing a splatter ring on top creates a
great way to gently steam the flowers back to their original shape. 

Flower after being steamed for about 3 minutes

I have been collecting vintage millinery flowers for over 30 years.  The craftsmanship skills in each one is a work of art- cutting, gluing, dyeing, painting  and assembling each one.  After looking at some of the couture runway shows in Paris this summer, I realized how many designers had used flowers on their gowns and decided to dig my collection out and pay a little attention to it. So Sunday afternoon, I steamed, sorted and displayed the favorite flowers in  my collection.  I have found the best way to re-shape them is to place a grease splatter screen over a pot of boiling water and lay the flowers on top. After a few minutes, the steam gently forces the petals open and with your fingers you can press them back to their original shapes.  After shaping them, I placed my favorite ones on a silver tier tray for display in a guest bedroom.  The colors look so pretty together and all the different textures create an interesting display.  Deciding to keep only a few,  I re-shaped the rest, made little bouquets and took them to the store to sell.  Hopefully, someone else will be enchanted by their sweet little faces and take them home to enjoy.