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Step 1
Consider the size of the flower and the weight of the corsage when deciding how many flowers to include. Corsages traditionally contain two main flowers, usually roses. If the roses you're working with are large, however, the corsage can just contain one rose instead of two. Remember that there will also be accent flowers and ribbons on the corsage and that the corsage needs to withstand a lot of movement throughout the night.
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Step 2
Remove outer petals all the way around the rose. These petals are softer than the petals on the inner layers of the flower because they're older. They also aren't as vibrantly colored and might be torn or bruised during shipment of the flowers. Taking off the outer layer of petals makes assembling your corsage easier and makes the finished corsage look more colorful and pretty.
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Step 3
Take off excess greenery at the base of the flower and the top of the stem. Leaving these green pieces on the flower makes it harder to pin the rose to other flowers in the corsage and can make the corsage look sloppy.
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Step 4
Use your hands when you remove outer petals and excess leaves, which allows you to remove all the necessary foliage without risking cutting the rose or leaving behind leaf or petal edges. Don't be afraid to bend the rose slightly so that you can remove the entire outer petal or leaf with your fingertips.
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Step 5
Trim the stem last to make the other trimming easier. Use sharp scissors to cut the stem when you're ready, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of the stem attached to the rose. This gives you plenty of room to wrap wire, pin flowers in place and attach a bow or ribbon to the finished corsage. Cut the stem at an angle to make the corsage look more professional and formal.
