Origami Basic Flower – Step by Step Tutorial with Video

Learn how to make a simple origami flower in a basic flower shape using this step by step tutorial! When you’re done, you can give this origami jellyfish a try too. This post contains affiliate links.

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It’s been quite a bit of time since I’ve shared a new origami tutorial, and so today I’m sharing a very cool and easy one for beginners: a simple origami flower, in a basic petal shape.

This might not appeal as much to origami purists, as it’s made from multiple parts glued together, but that makes it so easy to do. Master one petal and then make a few of them. It turns it into a bit of a fidget, keep the hands busy kind of craft.

Tips for Making an Origami Flower for beginners

This is quite a simple tutorial, but I figured I’d share some ideas for expanding on it, turning it into a bouquet, as well as advice for getting it right the first time.

Getting your petals right

The only thing about making an origami flower that might be challenging for true beginners is the size. We started with a 2×2 inch piece of paper, which is really small. You can practice on larger papers first, or make a bigger flower by scaling up if you’d like, but the 2×2 size makes a final size that’s close to what you’d expect of origami.

A couple of things that are critical to getting it right – especially if you’re using small papers:

• Get your creases really sharp. I sometimes use a bone folder for this, but for this one, nails were enough.
• Use thin origami paper. Bulkier paper will create, you know, bulk…

Turning it into a Bouquet

The flowers form a hole in the center, that is the perfect place to slide through a stem and turn the top into a stamen. You can see how I turned similar paper flower templates into bouquets, with even more strategies with these paper flower folding templates.

I love using chenille stems and pony beads for this type of thing, and super jumbo chenille stems can be so much fun for finishing origami flowers into a bouquet.

Making this next level

There are two ways to scale origami flowers:

• Increase or decrease your paper size
• Increase or decrease your petal count.

Increasing or decreasing the petal count will cause the flower to cone more or less. The main flower here is a 7 petal flower. You can create a flat 8 petal flower, a 7 petal and then start decreasing to make it cone up more. Stack the flowers together so that the tightest cone is on top, and the others gradually underneath.

How to Make an Origami Flower

Watch the Video

Watch the full-length video on YouTube if you prefer to learn that way! Or scroll down for written instructions with photos.

You’ll Need

• Origami Paper
• Scissors
• Glue stick

Step by Step Instructions

Make a Petal

1. Cut a piece of origami paper to about a 2-2.5 inch square.

2. Hold your origami rotated 90 degrees so that it’s in a diamond position. Fold the bottom corner up to the top corner to form a triangle.

3. Fold the right corner to meet the left corner to mark the center, and unfold.

4. Fold the right side up so that the right point meets the top point, and what was the right half of the bottom side now sits along the center fold.

5. Repeat on the left side.

6. Fold down the top layer only of the left side halfway so that the top corner meets the bottom.

7. Repeat on the right.

8. Flip your origami over. Fold the right side in to meet the center, but don’t fold that back layer – let that fully come to the front. We’re forming a new diamond on the front.

9. Repeat on the left side.

10. Fold a little corner of the right side in to round it out (the taller base layer, not the top diamond).

11. Repeat on the left.

12. Unfold those last folds, and tuck/reverse that fold so that it sits on the inside of the origami. Again, do this on both sides.

Assembling your flower

13. Make seven petals by repeating steps 1-12. The flat side is the front of your petal, so after step 12, flip them over.

14. Glue your petals together by tucking the flaps into each other, connecting the petals at the center point.

15. Keep connecting your petals until all 7 are connected.

Then connect your first one to your last one. Your origami flower is complete!

If you want you can fold down the tips to make rounded petals, or leave them pointy for pointed petals.

You can really play with this – roll back the ends of the petals a bit to add some dimension, leave it as is, add stems – the possibilities are endless!