Fabric Flower Making (skilled trades & manufacture)

Flower making was at its height during the 19^th Century then has steadily declined since the First World War. Clients for flowers would have included fashion houses, milliners, theatres, opera houses etc. Many women and children would have worked from home making flowers on a piece rate.

Flowers are still made for specialist, bespoke milliners and fashion houses but the majority are imported from overseas.

John Groom

John Groom’s Association for Disabled People, originally established in the late 19th century, made a significant impact by providing meaningful employment and social opportunities to individuals with disabilities through flower-making. This initiative began as a workshop where disabled people, often marginalized by society, could craft delicate artificial flowers, which were popular decorative items during the Victorian era. The workshop offered not only a source of income but also a community and sense of purpose for its participants. Over time, John Groom’s Association expanded its scope, pioneering efforts to improve the quality of life for disabled people, but flower-making remained a symbol of its early dedication to empowerment and inclusion.

Flower Makers Museum

The Flower Makers Museum in Hastings displays the equipment, inventory and stock of the Shirley Leaf and Petal Company which manufactures silk flowers and leaves for shop displays, weddings, confectionary, Christmas crackers, and Remembrance Day poppies.

Brenda Wilson is owner of the Shirley Leaf and Petal Company. She started putting the museum together in 1991 (it opened in 1993). Wilson was motivated to open a museum in order to highlight the difficult life of homeworkers in the past. The company started in Bow, East London and later moved to Hastings, using homeworkers in both locations. https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/collections/flower-makers-museum

• Cutting – using custom made cast iron cutters, each are individually designed for a leaf or flower
• Veining – using a two piece iron tool
• Assembly – putting together the leaf and petal shapes together to form artificial flowers
• Use of French flower irons and flower making tools – these are a range of shaped tools that are heated and used to shape petals, create veining and mould leaf or flower shapes.

Somebana techniques

Many makers in the UK and Europe now use Japanese-inspired somebana techniques to make fabric flowers. Each flower is unique and often considered a collectible or luxury item.

The process of making somebana starts with plain white or neutral-coloured fabric, typically silk or cotton, which is hand-dyed to create natural-looking gradients and subtle variations in tone. Each flower component—petals, leaves, and stems—is individually cut and shaped using heated tools and special moulds. These tools help give the fabric pieces the realistic curves, curls, and textures seen in natural flowers.

• Wax dipping
• Hand painting of flowers
• Leaf wiring
• Manufacture of stamens
• Bridal headpiece making using a combination of wax dipped flowers, beading, crystals etc.

Related crafts

• Somebana flower making
• French beaded flowers
• Paper flower making is a related widespread practice

Training and recruitment issues: There is very little in the way of training available

Skills issues: Many of the specialist skills and techniques have been lost, such as wax dipping and hand painting flowers which are no longer practised

Market issues: The market has reduced although there is still a demand from theatre and opera companies. There is a general lack of public awareness and appreciation of handmade flowers.

Much of the market for artificial flowers has been replaced by cheaper imports of artificial flowers from lower wage economies. Contemporary makers therefore have to make their flowers distinctive or innovative in order to compete and command higher prices for bespoke work.

Supply of raw materials, allied materials and tools: The trade is limited by the availability of the vintage tools and equipment. These would have been made for each individual flower and many are no longer being manufactured.

There are some specialist components for flower making that are no longer manufactured.

Small business issues: The businesses that make flowers suffer from many pressures facing small businesses including managing and maintaining premises, wage costs and finding time to devote to finding new markets, networking, building capacity etc.

Ageing workforce: The makers with the higher level skills tend to be older

The archive of samples and tools at the Flower Makers Museum is at risk due to the nature of being a small, private museum with limited resources.

• Flower Makers Museum

Short courses and workshops

• Short workshops with the Flower Makers Museum.
• Anne Tomlin teaches short courses at West Dean College and the Hand & Lock embroidery school.

Makers using traditional flower irons

• Elizabeth Collins – Chief flower maker at Shirley Leaf and Petal Company
• Brenda Wilson – Retired maker who established the Flower Makers Museum. She was trained in the traditional trade and worked with a wide range of high profile clients. Brenda is now retired but her legacy lives on in the Museum and those who she trained.
• Peter Brackin – Millfields Flowers

Bespoke flower makers using a range of techniques

• Maureen Flett – Maire Curtis
• Anne Tomlin – Makes flowers using a combination of French flower-making tools and Japanese (somebana) tools and a variety of materials including silk, wire, and paper clay. Anne closely studies nature and then uses techniques such as hand colouring, embossing, making leaf moulds, sculpting clay, and making stamens to recreate the essence of each flower.

Businesses employing two or more makers

• Millfields Flowers – employs one full time professional maker and one part time professional maker
• Shirley Leaf and Petal Company 1911

Flower tool makers

• Guy Morse Brown – makes flower making tools

• London museum https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/blog/rediscover-londons-lost-art-of-flower-making/
• M&S Schmalberg Instagram page – based in New York https://www.instagram.com/customfabricflowers/
• Bishopsgate Institute, interview with Brenda Wilson 2018 https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/collections/flower-makers-museum
• The National Archives – John Groom’s Association for Disabled People https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/b01e3894-4761-4263-9d15-cc63856988e5
• John Groom’s Crippleage and Flower Girls’ Mission, Clerkenwell https://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/ClerkenwellGroom/
• The Tobyn Post, The Crippleage Sekforde Street, Clerkenwell https://thetobynpost.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-crippleage-sekforde-street.html
• Coming up Roses: John Alfred Groom, the London Flower-Girls and a Highgate Goodbye https://agraveannouncementnews.wordpress.com/2019/07/02/coming-up-roses-john-alfred-groom-the-london-flower-girls-and-a-highgate-goodbye-long-read/
• Online documentary about our US flower makers (the only flower makers left in New York) M&S Schmalberg in which traditional techniques are demonstrated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsnHghKt810&t=15s

Our thanks go to our 2025 contributors and reviewers:

• Timothy Growcott, Flower Makers Museum
• Peter Brackin, Millfields Flowers
• Giulia Mio, Hat Guild Heritage Committee
• Anne Tomlin
• Maureen Flett

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