Good Morning, I am new to cake central as I'm a beginner cake decorator. I've been lurking but this is my first post ). This weekend, I am doing my first cupcake project for mother's day! I am excited and nervous at the same time lol!

Anyway, I am using a disposable bag and the wilton 1M tip. My question is do I have to use a coupler or can I just drop the tip down into the bag, clip off the end, fill bag and start decorating?

Yep! Just snip the bag and drop the tip in. Be sure the snip isn't too big or the tip will fall out. I have a large reusable bag I use for my larger tips ,as I find them to be much sturdier than the disposable ones when dealing with a lot of frosting. Have fun!

you can just drop the tip down into the bag.

You may want to take some time to go to You Tube and watch some videos. I know there are frosting videos, but I don't have an exact one to share. If you search for Buttercream you will see a whole bunch of great videos.

Have fun. That tip is super easy to use - my advice from one beginner to another. Well, at least I'm experienced with this tip as I have made dozens of cupcakes and decorated them all with this tip.

Also, go to Wilton.com and type in tip 1m for a search. I believe they show you how to decorate a cupcake on there also. You can also search "cupcake" on that site too.

Thanks! I tried it with the coupler (just practicing yesterday) and had hard time with it and I was easily frustrated. The cupcakes are gifts and I want them to be lovely...even if I am a beginner .

I will check out youtube and wilton again for further instruction! Thanks again!

I do not like the large coupler at all! To me it is a huge waste of bag space, so I just use the large tips without the couplers.

Just drop the tip in, cut off enough of the bag so all the openings of the tips are clear and you are good to go.

@ Texassugar- Yes,when I put the large coupler in the disposable bag last night I was thinking - hmmm, there's not a lot of room left for icing. I am definitely going to do it without the coupler!

And for cupcakes I like the 16" size bag - in both disposable and reusable. But lately I have been using nothing but disposable. I like not having to clean up, mainly because I am concerned with dumping that much grease down my drain.

I was going to get a large coupler. I think I'll change my mind.

I need help with the 1M tip for some reason its not making the swirls. It looked like I was using a 1A tip instead. What am I doing wrong? I can't seem to get the hang of the 1M tip. I've been online to watch the videos & it seems easy but for me its not. Is there another tip I can use & get the same results?

when you trim the bag make sure that none of the bag is still over hanging the tip openings, if that makes any sense, so your not blocking the tip.

Thanks everyone for your helpful tips its greatly appreciated!

As a newbie decorator I like using a coupler. It's odd that they don't sell medium couplers at Michael's. In fact the only ones I saw in Ebay are from the UK. They did have a large one, but it was too big for that tip, it must be for the 789 tip.

Can someone tell me what size bag to use with the large 

I am also new in the cake decorating world but I love using that tip for my cupcakes. I do not have a big coupler so I just cut of the tip of the bag and put the tip in. For me it works just fine but I guess it is a personal opinion.  And it depends ofcourse also on if you want to use the colour with only one or more piping tips.

I had a big coupler but did not like using them so I also just drop the big tip in and cut the tip of bag right to where my 1m tip can stick out. It sounds like to me that maybe your buttercream is too runny. Add more 10x sugar to thicken it up a little. I am sure you will get the hang of it.

Practice and practice and before you know it you will be decorating like a pro. Also, watch a lot of you tube under cake decorating, buttercream flowers, cake borders, icing flowers, etc. Those videos help tremendously with piping and they show how to use each piping tip while piping flowers!! Good luck!!