Tutorial: Fluffing Vintage Silk Flowers

When I got hold of the box of Mary Beth's flattened vintage flowers, I went online looking for information on how to un-flatten them.  The bulk of what I found involved using iron steam:  there was a problem with this because of the sheer volume of flowers with which I was faced.  If you are restoring more than a few flowers you will need more and hotter steam to unfold them without scalding your fingers.

Flat Anemone

Flat Pansies

The materials from which vintage flowers are made vary:  there are ones that are crisp;  ones that appear to be made of organza; and ones of silky velvet.  Naturally, each material behaves differently as it is exposed to steam:  it is important to treat each flower individually.

Aside from reshaping the flowers, areas of concern are leaves and stems.  Florists' tape and glue seem particularly susceptible to the effects of steam.  If it sits all right with you that you might have to re-glue some leaves to their wire armatures and that your stems will for a time become sticky, then by all means proceed.  Otherwise, I would say go for the steam from your iron.

The Pot

You will need a soup pot, a colander that will fit over the mouth of the stew pot, a heat-resistant measuring cup, and a lid.  For shaping larger, round flowers, a custard cup works nicely.

Fill your soup pot a third of the way and set it to boil.  Set your colander over the water, and be sure that it sits well above the water (you don't want slosh over from a rolling boil).

Before you set your flowers into the colander, you will want to try to unfold and shape them a bit.  Be ginger with them, but these flowers are tougher than you  might think.  Again, the leaves and stems may be more delicate than the flowers themselves.

Measuring Cup in the Colander

Arranged in the Colander

At first, you will set the flowers around the measuring cup.  Cover the colander with a lid and do a couple of dishes or unload the dishwasher--I get a lot of chores done while I am steaming flowers!  The point is that small tasks provide good intervals between  adjusting the flowers' positions.

Note:  this whole process requires PATIENCE.  No matter how focused you think you are, you cannot try to push through an entire box of flowers in one afternoon.  Each flower requires individual attention and rushing just doesn't work.  You'll find yourself getting frustrated and tossing your failures back into the box for another day.

As time passes and the flowers' fabric relaxes, you'll want to take the flowers out and adjust them, folding petals back and unfurling leaves.  This may require turning the flowers, laying them face-down over the measuring cup, or gently tucking them into the cup one at a time.

DO check the flowers OFTEN.  When I say that you can get chores done, I do NOT mean that you can clean the whole bathroom in between checking the flowers.  If you compartmentalize your hypothetical bathroom cleaning to clean toilet+check flowers, clean bathtub+check flowers, etc., your results will be much more satisfactory.  If you steam too long or hard, you will for example find that you have inadvertently eliminated the texturing on the leaves.

Custard Cup

With roses, anemones and other large symmetrical flowers, the next step after the steamy measuring cup is a cool down in a custard cup.  This will help the flower to retain a shape:  otherwise it will be a lovely, steamed, FLAT flower.   Once the flower has cooled and dried, it will take on a three dimensional appearance.

Note:  I am still working out the issue of reforming flowers that have been wired together.  I'll post more when I find some solution.

Further Note:  You will also find that there is a certain percentage of your flowers that will not immediately respond to your best efforts.  For example, the batch I photographed had daisies that would not unfold themselves to my satisfaction.  I just put them aside until something else occurs to me.

This batch also contained velvet pansies which had been pretty well smushed.  These responded well, with considerable manipulation.  To my surprise, I discovered that they are more resilient than I had expected:  one accidentally got wet and dried well without losing most of its softness. (You don't want to do that too much, though:  it wreaks merry havoc with the glue holding it together.)

Unflat Pansies

Unflat Anemone

As you can see, the pansies are now open and more lifelike, and the anemone has gone from flat to three-dimensional with the soft lines it should have.


To avoid crushing the flowers , I suggest poking holes in the top of a shoe box lid:  some flowers can be stored inside the box, and more delicate ones can be stuck upright through the lid.

Good luck!