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  • Home » Holiday » Wreaths » April makes a wreath using 10 vintage Christmas corsages — gorgeous!

    April makes a wreath using 10 vintage Christmas corsages — gorgeous!

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    Posted by: pam kueber • December 9, 2014

    Corsage-wreathvintage-christmas-corsageOur tutorials to make wreaths using Christmas ornaments have inspired ornament wreath mania, methinks, and now, reader April has trumped us all with this drop dead gorgeous creation: A wreath made using 10 vintage Christmas corsages plus some extra Kitschmas baubles to fill in and accentuate here and there. Oh my: I now “need” to collect corsages, too, who needs a retirement fund, anyways? 


    vintage-christmas-corsagevintage-christmas-corsageYes: Christmas corsages. These were popular in mid-century America — a popular Christmas day gift for the lady of the house to wear to church and the day’s family get-together. They were made by florists and also manufacturers, using ornaments and greenery all wired together just like… prom corsages today. Jump over to etsy or ebay and type in “vintage Christmas corsage” and behold hundreds, even thousands, of examples. These things were popular.

    Tip: Click on any image, and it should double in size on your screen — you should actually be able to view the images in this story (and other on this blog) like a slide show by clicking on the photos once they enlarge.

    How April made her vintage Christmas corsage wreath

    Here is how April did it, she writes:

    Hi Pam,

    When I saw your great tutorial last year on making wreaths, I was determined to try my hand at it this year.

    I had such vivid memories of my mom, aunts and grandmothers wearing Christmas corsages in the 50’s and 60’s, I thought they would be perfect to incorporate into a wreath.

    I searched Ebay and Etsy for corsages, Some of the corsages were full enough to use on their own, while others I thought needed a few things added — I found that once I placed them on the wreath, I needed something more to fill in the gaps.

    vintage-christmas-corsageAs an example, I purchased a couple of corsages for their beautiful orange ribbons. One had the Santa face, but the other didn’t have anything, so I found some vintage reindeer picks and added one to the other.

    vintage-christmas-corsageI took apart a large corsage and used it to make a pair for either side, adding the cute little snowmen picks I had found.

    vintage christmas corsagesI also bought miniature ornaments in different sizes, and with the smallest ones added old chenille pipe cleaners for stems, and put a few of those in as well.

    vintage christmas ornamentsThe cute red bottle brush trees at the bottom are half trees that were worn as brooches, and the angels were a find on Ebay that seemed to work, with a little bottle brush tree between them. I used a few small Shiny Brite ornaments to fill in, just to break up all the tiny stuff going on.

    vintage corsage wreath retro craftyCorsage-wreathvintage corsage wreath retro craftyvintage corsage wreath retro crafty
    I think in all I used 10 corsages on the wreath, and filled in with bits and pieces from 2 more, as well as adding the mini ornaments. I also used a few vintage silver leaves and some lacquered holly leaves that back a lot of the corsages to fill in as well. A hot glue gun (like the one you recommended ) worked great to secure everything in place.

    The wreath size is a 14″ wrapped in gold tinsel.

    It was a fun project, and most of all, it brought back some wonderful memories of those ladies all decked out in their fancy corsages at Christmas.

    Thanks again for all your wonderful inspiration each and every day.

    Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

    Best, April

    Thank you for sharing this, April. I can’t wait to make my own — but yours looks like it will be hard to beat!

    Vintage-Corsage-Wreath

    Related stories

    1. Our tutorial and 30+ tips to make your own vintage Christmas ornament wreath
    2. Video tutorial — Make a vintage Christmas ornament wreath — 3 hours into 4 minutes time lapse wow!
    3. My vintage Christmas ornament wreaths for 2016: “One is silver, and the other, gold”
    4. Battery operated twinkle lights for my vintage Christmas ornament wreath — twinkle on!

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    Comments 21
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    Comments

    1. Rebecca says

      December 9, 2014 at 11:49 pm

      Well done April. I have a lovely stash of corsages but was never sure what to do with them. This is a great idea. Can you give me some details on how you attached the chenille pipe cleaners to the small ornaments? I need to do that for another project and any guidance would be appreciate. Thanks for sharing your inspiration!

      Reply
      • April says

        December 10, 2014 at 9:44 am

        Thanks so much. To attach the pipe cleaner stems, just remove the hanger, put a dot of glue on the end and put it into the ornament, then cut the stem to the length you need.

        Reply
    2. April says

      December 10, 2014 at 9:47 am

      Thanks so much everyone! So glad you like it, and Thanks Pam and Kate for the great presentation!!!
      Happy Holidays!

      Reply
    3. tammyCA says

      December 10, 2014 at 4:33 pm

      Sweet! I have bits and bobs of floral/corsage decorations that I come across at sales…they do bring back memories.

      Reply
    4. mona says

      December 11, 2014 at 7:43 am

      OMG when I was in grade school, my mom and I wore Christmas corsages on our winter coats. The stores would have dozens to pick from.

      Reply
    5. Iris Trahan says

      January 12, 2018 at 6:11 pm

      I have tried to repair and repurpose sad ones. Do you have a source for the large silver leaf at the base of the corsage? Thanks !

      Reply
      • Pam Kueber says

        January 12, 2018 at 6:12 pm

        I see them on etsy and ebay sometimes.

        Reply
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