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How to Make Crepe Paper Roses (With Free Templates)

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Green text at the bottom of a close-up of a pink crepe paper rose reads, "The secret to gorgeous crepe paper flowers."

Making crepe paper roses is an ideal choice for learning to craft realistic flowers from crepe paper. The secret – actually secrets – for crafting these beautiful blooms rests in a little bit of helpful knowledge that I’m excited to share. These useful tips will go a long way in helping you achieve great results in creating the perfect crepe paper flowers. 

In this tutorial, we’ll be making a beautiful pink crepe paper rose. Before we go to the tutorial, let’s run through those secrets for creating a gorgeous crepe paper flower that will give you a final look you can enjoy or share with friends and family.

1. Consider the Unique Texture of Crepe Paper.

Did you know that crepe paper has a stretching capacity of 50%?

Since crepe paper stretches easily, keep this in mind as you work with it. So don’t cut huge petals, thinking your crepe paper flower might be too small. Less is more!

Also, this means when you go to shape the petals (pulling and cupping them – more on this below), your petals are going to expand in size, almost double depending on how much you decide to pull at the petals. 

Besides having the ability to “grow,” the petal texture of crepe paper is almost similar to the real deal. And like real flowers, you’ll find crepe paper sheets in a variety of different colors and hues that are quite realistic. 

It’s Easy to Get into Shape.

Unlike card stock, which I’ve used a lot and taught others to use, you don’t have to work as hard with crepe paper to get the petals to look like, well…like petals. Its pliable texture helps with that, so you don’t need to spend as much time shaping each petal. 

A blossoming pink rose, with paper leaves, is in a small turquoise vase on a white background.

2. Go With The Grain.

To hold their shape, it’s important to cut the petals in the direction of the grain of the crepe paper, not across the grain. This can’t be emphasized enough. Everything about crepe paper flowers involves going in the direction of the grained ridges. 

Cutting your petals so the vertical ridges run parallel to the petal length allows you to shape them properly. Look closely at the image below and you’ll see what I mean. 

A fanned-out stack of crepe paper sheets lay on a white backdrop. A black arrow points to the left-to-right ridges along the crepe paper. The text reads, "See all the little ridges going this way?"

And now, the most important tip for achieving the perfect crepe paper flowers…

3. Use a high-quality crepe paper.

Truly, this is the single most important thing. Even if you follow the first two tips, you must have an excellent crepe paper, or it won’t matter, plain and simple. A good quality crepe paper is textured with a lot of vertical ridges. 

So, let me give you my absolute favorite crepe paper source: Carte Fini. We’re not talking thin streamer rolls; rather, premium Italian crepe paper with over 200 stunning colors and shades to choose from, including double-sided crepe paper (two unique colors fused into one sheet).

rolls of crepe paper in various colors

Materials

Instructions for Making Crepe Paper Roses

Here we go with easy instructions for creating your gorgeous pink roses!

1. Cut The Petals.

First, you’ll be cutting the 3 petal shapes in various sizes, as shown below.

  • 6-7 small petals
  • 5-6 medium petals
  • 5-6 large petals
Cut pink rose petals

2. Create the Stems.

Then, once you’ve cut your petals, grab 2 pieces of 18-gauge wire and wrap with corsage tape.

On a white paper tabletop, a floral wire lays partially wrapped with corsage tape. The roll of corsage tape lays in the middle of the picture as its unrolled tape is weaved around the area.

3. Shape the Petals.

Now, you want to do the pulling and cupping technique that shapes and contours the flower petals. One of the best ways to do this is to gently pull the edges inward. It will come naturally and should give you something like the following: 

Petals sit on the white paper background, slightly curled inward to mimic the shape of a natural rose.
Abbi Kirsten's hand holds a curled petal in her hand. The remaining curled crepe paper petals lay in the background.
A focused close-up of the rose petal, gently held in Abbi Kirsten's hand.

4. Create the Center.

Next, grab your stem and one small petal and wrap it around the stem. This is the center of the rose. 

A close-up of the rose petal has been curled and adhered to the flower stem.

5. Add the Small Petals.

Now that you’ve created the center, continue with the other 5 small petals going around in the same way. Be sure not to make them too tight. You want the rose to look like it’s blooming. 

Abbi Kirsten holds a partially completed crepe paper rose in her hand, holding it close to the camera to show how the petals wrap around each other. Other petal pieces are in the background.
Abbi Kirsten holds an unfinished crepe paper rose and wire stem in her hand to show how the petal pieces will form a blooming rose when completed.

6. Curl the Large Petals.

For the large petals, use a thin dowel, pencil, or spare glue stick to curl back the edges. 

Pink petal pieces lay on a white table in the background, while in the foreground, Abbi Kirsten's hands show how to curl the petals already attached to the stem with a thin dowel. Crepe paper flowers look more realistic and are fun to make.

7. Add the Medium Petals.

Begin adding on the medium petals. 

The crepe paper flower craft in Abbi's hand is now ready for the medium pre-cut petals to be added.
A different angle shows the crepe paper rose and stem in Abbi's hand is only partially completed when the medium-sized petals have been added.
Abbi Kirsten's hand holds an almost finished, blossoming crepe paper flower against a white backdrop.

8. Add the Large Petals.

With small and medium petals now attached, keep going around with the large petals.

In Abbi Kirsten's hand is a crepe paper flower with some larger petals added, showing how full the final paper flower will become.
Abbi Kirsten's hand is holding a crepe paper pink rose that is nearly completed. We can see the top of the flower clearly against the white background.

9. Add the Leaves.

Lastly, cut a few leaves and one long, thin rectangle with fringe edges to wrap around the rose’s underside. Just as you did for the petals, remember to pull and cup your leaves too!

pink crepe paper rose

So there you have it! A lovely, realistic-looking pink rose whose petals do not fall or fade.

A close-up of the crepe paper rose, as the petals spread out from the tight center, creating a beautiful and gentle paper flower.
There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Find more crepe paper flower tutorials and templates here.

vase with crepe paper sunflowers

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7 Comments

  1. CraftyHope says:

    Your flower is gorgeous! I seriously thought that you could make these with the crepe paper streamers (from the dollar store). But, after reading your rules, I realize that I'm totally wrong. I'll have to eventually invest in some good crepe paper I guess. Thanks for all the tips! 🙂

  2. Abigail Gillespie says:

    I'm glad you enjoyed! The paper makes a world of difference!

  3. So beautiful! I love paper flowers.
    🙂 gwingal

  4. Abigail Gillespie says:

    Thank you! 🙂

  5. Lu Romney says:

    Where do you get the template for the rose lu romney

  6. I love your roses! They are perfect for my daughter’s wedding!
    Thank you!