History of "French Beaded" Flowers
The art of making beaded flowers was practiced across Europe as early as the 1500's. French peasants began collecting defective or discarded beads and strung them on to copper wire and shaped them into flowers as a way of supporting themselves. These beaded flowers were used in bouquets, as alter displays and in memorial wreaths. The skill required to create these beautiful flowers has made them treasured collectibles. According to the French Beading Artists Guild a few notables who owned and treasured these beaded flowers were Marie Antoinette, Madam Pompadour, Napoleon's Josephine, Princess Grace, Princess Caroline, Patricia Nixon and William Randolph Hearst. Today, examples of antique "French Beaded" flowers can be found in museums, as well as in private collections.

Flower Beading Techniques
"French Beaded" refers to the original technique used to weave flowers with seed beads and wire. Each petal, leaf, and stamen is made by wrapping wire strung with beads off a central row of beads. Flowers are usually constructed using size 11/0 seed (rocaille) beads. During the twentieth century beaders around the world began modifiying the original techique to create beaded flowers. Today a variety of wire bead "weaving" techniques and beaded flower patterns are available in books and online.

This is an example of the original "French" beaded flower technique.

Beaded Flower Publications
In 1865, Godey's Ladies Book published a beaded flower pattern and suggested that readers use them as decoration for hair or clothing. In 1928, the Dritz Traum Company released "Hiawatha New Imported Crystal Bead Models", considered to be one of the earliest publications of French beaded flowers in the United States. By 1957, Samuel Wallach (Walbead) was packaging and selling "Bead a Bouquet" kits, which included instructions for a wide variety of beaded flowers. From the 1960’s through the 1980’s a flurry of publications were released and these books are now considered the, much coveted, "bibles" of French flower beading.

In the late 1990's a dramatic interest in beaded flowers spread around the world. Books were published in Japanese, French, Italian, Russian, German and Dutch. Although some of the styles in these publications "cross over", most of these books do not strictly use the techniques that have become known as the "French" technique.

Sources:
http://www.beadedflowerpatterns.com/
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/article/France/French-Beaded-Flowers/2569