How to Make a Single Flower Corsage

When money is tight and you need a beautiful touch more than a lavish display of extravagance, making a single-flower corsage can be the perfect solution. Corsages are romantic and sure to produce a smile, and if you use the right blooms, their fragrance is a wonderful bonus. Whether you are making them in quantities for a graduation, shower or a party, or if you're in charge of the men's boutonnières at a wedding, you'll be surprised to see how even a single flower can make an irresistible impression on a special day. One warning: When people see how beautiful your corsages look and find out how inexpensive they were to make, you could find yourself running a sweet-smelling cottage industry when the next big event rolls around.

Things You'll Need

• Floral tape
• Corsage pins or long hatpins
• Stems of fern
• Flowers
• Ribbon
• Flower cutters
• Powdered floral-life extender
• Water tubes
• Autumn leaves (optional)
• Winterberry leaves (optional)

Instructions

1. Visit a floral or craft-supply store (or find one on the Internet) to purchase supplies. Pick up fresh flowers at a local market.

2. Follow package directions to make a pitcher of floral life extender. Fill individual tubes and stand them upright in a box so they don't tip over before you need them.

3. Set up an assembly line to construct the corsages. Line up the materials in this order: a bucket of flowers with flower cutter, individual fern stems, water tubes filled with life extender, green floral tape, corsage pins (not hatpins) and ribbon.

4. Remove a flower from the bucket and cut the blossom from the stem, leaving at least 3 inches. Hold the flower in one hand, pick up one or two fern leaves and tuck the plants into a water tube.

5. Arrange the flower and fern so the bud is the centerpiece flanked by the fern; then start wrapping the bud, fern and tube in green floral tape. Tighten the tape around the top of the corsage and slip in an open corsage pin. Keep wrapping until the pin is securely attached to the back of the corsage and the water tube is hidden.

6. Add contrasting ribbons to the corsage for a finishing touch.

7. Add shimmer to the fern leaves by lightly misting them with spray adhesive and glitter, or apply spray glitter before you assemble the corsages. You can give a corsage an autumn or winter touch by substituting autumn or winterberry leaves for the fern. Both look sensational with a dusting of glitter, too.

8. For a man's boutonnière, clip the flower higher up on the stem (leave around 1 inch) and make sure the fern stem is short, too. Wrap the bud and stem with floral tape and place a hatpin through the stem to hold it to the lapel.

Tips & Warnings

• Large, dramatic blooms make the best single-flower corsages. Experiment with Gerbera daisies, large roses, calla lilies, showy tulips and giant irises. Keep corsages refrigerated if you make then in advance.

Resources

• Find floral supplies here