How to Make a Nosegay

...
Creatas Images/Creatas/Getty Images

Once a Victorian fashion accessory for trendy 19th-century women, the nosegay is now most commonly associated with weddings. A nosegay is basically a flower bouquet, but it's smaller, bound and usually hand-held. Most often the shape is a distinctive dome of blooms. Any florist will create nosegays for you, but if you're on a budget, you can make one yourself using any type of flower you like, from roses to wildflowers or cyclamen from your garden.

Prepare the flowers by stripping the stems of leaves and thorns. Run a craft knife down the sides of the stems to remove them, taking care not to strip the stems themselves.

Arrange about 10 to 15 flowers — more or fewer, depending on the type of flower and the size of the nosegay — into a bundle. Push the flowers near the center up slightly, and lower the flowers around the edge, until the flowers make a dome-like shape.

Wrap a rubber band around the flowers, just under the blooms.

Trim the bottoms of the stems with shears so that they're an even 4 to 6 inches long from the base of the rubber band.

Wrap the rubber band with a wide ribbon, tied in a bow.

Place the the nosegay in a glass half-filled with water until use, or as a display.