1. The design will be in school colors, except for seniors where white with silver or gold are acceptable.
2. The mum will be artificial and as large as the wearer and local custom will support.
3. The arrangement must be affixed to a backing shield large and sturdy enough for its support.
4. Woven ribbons (called love chains and military braids) and/or streamers will hang down from the corsage to at least the wearer’s thighs, but can be as long as floor length. [Again, check local custom – or decide to break it.]
5. Letters/symbols will run down one or more of the streamers. Wearer’s or her boyfriend’s name and “Homecoming 20xx” are popular, as is the name of the school’s football team or messages like “Go Team!” and “#1”.
6. Embellishments, such as meaningful charms or trinkets, small cardboard plaques (e.g. in the shape of the state or a football) or jingling bells should be strung on thin ribbons. [Many have tried hot-gluing them to the wide streamers but this is not advised since the wearer may find them falling off at inopportune moments or leaving a Hansel and Gretel-type trail all the way home.]
7. The mum will be set on a circular frame of a ruffled ribbon or ribbon points attached around the perimeter of a second shield which is then affixed to the backing shield.*
8. A central adornment, usually a small plush animal will sit in the center of the mum itself. Teddy bears are common as are animals representing the school mascot. A photo (e.g. of the homecoming couple) cropped to a circle may also be used. Really anything that will fit …
9. Short lengths of battery-powered blinking lights (think Christmas tree) or sound chips which play the school song or a couple’s personal song (order online or find in greeting cards) are a clever addition and conversation piece.
10. If the corsage will be worn during the school day, check school rules regarding such things as bells (noise), blinking lights (distracting) and length (possible injury due to tripping). For the Homecoming Game itself, anything goes!
* Think of the assembly like a sandwich: backing shield to go against wearer's chest; streamers/ribbons stapled or glued to backing shield; second shield with ribbon point frame and central mum, etc. attached to it. When each shield is fully assembled, they are stapled together to complete the corsage.
[Thanks to Jie for inspiring this article with her letter yesterday as well as for her kind comments about The Artful Crafter.]
Tags: homecoming mums, award-winning website, The Artful Crafter, Knol, homecoming mum rules, love chain weaves, how to make homecoming mums, homecoming mum supplies, homecoming season
Friday, October 02, 2009
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7 comments:
LOL...This is just hysterical! I love it. I'm not sure if we have the homecoming mum tradition here, but I'm going to call a friend of mine who covers sports here for a local station and ask. If we do..I am going to make sure he gets pictures for me!
I'm glad you enjoyed my tongue-in-cheek directions for making a Homecoming Mum Corsage :-D
I don't know if the tradition has reached Kentucky yet, but it is definitely spreading far from its Texas/Oklahoma roots.
LOL...
ABAHP...as big as humanly possible. That's what I've heard ;-)
You got it, Cyndi!
Can you take multiple single round backings and connect them to make one big round backing? If so how?
Well yes, I suppose you could. But who would wear it, Andre the Giant? LOL.
But seriously, I have seen a double corsage with a larger mum on top and a smaller one attached below. That was done by cutting a backing and matching cover shield slightly smaller and downsizing the floral arrangement to fit them.
To do a really large single corsage, I would use plastic canvas and cut out a single large backing and matching cover shield (rather than stapling circles into a larger circle).
Hope this helps ;-)
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