How To Create Tissue Paper Flowers

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Tissue paper flowers make a gorgeous event decor with a big impact—think weddings, baby showers, bridal showers and more! Learn how to make easy tissue paper flowers, as well as different methods for cutting the petals to create four unique styles.

Bright Tissue paper flowers - green, teal, red, and yellow

DIY Tissue Paper Flowers

If you're looking for budget decor for weddings, baby showers, and bridal showers, you've come to the right place! These flowers also make amazing photo backdrops—you could even make small flowers for a handheld bouquet!

I've been making tissue paper flowers since our wedding in 2013, and they are still my go-to budget party decor. This post will teach you not only how to make tissue paper flowers quickly and easily, but you'll also learn four different ways to cut the petals to get different looks to your flowers.

You can watch my video tutorial here, or read on for written instructions!

How did I come to love tissue paper flowers so much? Our budget was a little lopsided for our wedding. We knew we wanted great food and a fantastic photographer—which left approximately no dollars for table decorations. I'd thought about making fabric flowers for the centerpieces, but then I realized that fabric ain't cheap either.

A while back, I bought some paper pompoms to decorate my friend's daughter's birthday party. I realized they are not at all hard to make, so I decided that "rivers of flowers" would decorate the centers of our long 8′ tables. I was able to get a good price on the paper through a wholesaler (learn more about buying tissue paper in bulk). Which was good, because I needed, like, 500 flowers in two different sizes.

up close view of tissue paper flowers on as wedding centerpiece

While it seemed kind of crazy to make 500 tissue paper flowers, it actually wasn't too difficult. I had the help of many of my family and friends, who came over and helped me fluff all the flowers. They turned out beautifully and I got so many compliments on the decor at the wedding. A bunch of friends took them home after the big day to use at other parties they were throwing.

Important: make sure your tissue paper flowers are all fluffed before your event! There will be way too many to fluff the day of, and it will just stress you out. I basically had a giant box with a variety of flowers in each for each table. That way my coordinator and her team could just open each box and pop the already-fluffed paper flowers on the table.

Want to make some of your own? Here's a tutorial on how to make tissue paper flowers!

What Supplies Do I Need for Tissue Paper Flowers?

It doesn't take much to make these flowers! All you need is:

Tissue Paper
Rotary Cutter (or scissors)
Stapler

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers:

Start with two large sheets of tissue paper. I bought bulk tissue paper so it only has the center fold, but using regular tissue paper with more folds works too.

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers: Start with two pieces of tissue paper

Fold the two tissue paper sheets in half.

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers: Fold the Pieces of Tissue Paper In Half

Then, fold in half again.

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers: Fold tissue paper in half again

Find the corner with all of the separate pieces of paper (not one with a fold). Take this corner and fold it to the bottom edge to make a triangle.

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers: Find the corner with all of the separate pieces of paper (not one with a fold). Take this corner and fold it to the opposite edge to make a triangle.

Trim off the extra rectangle of paper. Scissors work if you're just making a few, but I really found my rotary cutter, ruler, and self-healing cutting mat were optimal for doing a lot of these.

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers: Cut off the extra part of the folded piece of tissue paper

When you open up the triangle to make a square, you'll notice that some edges still have a fold. Trim off that edge using a rotary cutter, or slip the scissors into the fold and cut to separate all the pieces of paper. Basically, you want eight individual squares.

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers: Cut folded edge to separate all 8 pieces of tissue paper.

Fold the paper, accordion style. I usually ended up with six or seven folds.

Fold the tissue paper squares, accordion style. I usually ended up with six or seven folds.

Staple the accordion in the center.

Trim each edge to create the "flower petals." See below to find other ways of cutting the ends of each flower to create a different look.

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers: Trim each edge to create the "petals" of the flower.

Carefully start to separate the layers of the flower. Pull from the inside of each layer, as opposed to out on each edge. This will help keep the flowers from tearing. To be honest, we ripped a lot of petals but there are so many on each flower that it wasn't noticeable. Keep fluffing the layers until you have half the flower.

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers: Carefully start to separate the layers of the flower.

And then fluff the other side! Voila! You've made a paper flower!

Finished Tissue paper flower to make a gorgeous event decor

How to Make Small Tissue Paper Flowers

If you want to make smaller paper flowers, cut down the size of your squares. Then use this guide to know how many sheets of tissue paper to use:

12″ wide and up — 8 layers
8″ – 11″ — 6 layers
4″ – 7″ — 5 layers
Smaller than 4″ — 4 layers

How to Make a Tissue Paper Flower Four Ways:

I ended up cutting four different styles of flowers — here's how I accomplished each look:

Cutting a rounded petal
Cutting fringe
Cutting a pointed petal
Cutting an inverted rounded petal

Tissue paper flowers four ways by cutting the edges differently

Pretty fabulous and not so difficult! Perfect for the bride (or bridal or baby shower planner!) who wants to save a bit of money but still make an impact. Ever since the wedding, this paper flower DIY has been my go-to for almost any party I'm throwing.

I also have a handful of tutorials for other types of tissue paper flowers using different colors. Check out these paper flower tutorials:

How to Make Tissue Paper Peonies
How to Make Tissue Paper Sunflowers
Tri-Color Tissue Paper Flowers
Remembrance Tissue Paper Poppy

If you have less time than money, you can always buy your paper flowers as well. I have a whole post of The Best Places to Buy Tissue Paper Flowers.

Tissue paper flowers four ways pin image

Create more beautiful tissue paper crafts:

Buy Tissue Paper Flowers

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I'm Cori and I'm so glad you've decided to stop by and make stuff with me! My blog is full of things to help you create a life you love: easy crafts, fun printables, SVG files for cutting on your Cricut, DIY home and decor ideas, and so much more. I live in Northern California with my husband, our adorable twin boys, and our big fluffy Bernese mountain dog.