Felt Flower Message in a Bottle

Hello, this is Lorrie Everitt from @makeandmerryco and I am delighted to share my Felt Flower Message in a Bottle project with you.

I was inspired to design this project after watching an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It was the eighth episode of season five, when Midge is back at Bryn Mawr, her alma mater, for a ten-year reunion with her college friends. While Midge was at the school, she and her friends visit their old hangout and find the bottles with flowers that they left there before they graduated. Each of them wrote a note to their “future selves” on a small piece of paper that was rolled up and tied with string to the bottom of a single flower. It was fun to watch each of the friends pull the notes out of the bottles and read their messages.

I thought that this idea would make a unique gift idea for someone that is graduating. Of course, instead of using old dried up flowers, we’ll make a simple felt flower and the message in the bottle will be a personal note to the graduate.

I named the flower that I designed for this project “Midge” and you can find the download for the felt flower pattern here.

Before we get started, I wanted to let you know that I created my Midge felt flower using my daughter’s university colours - purple and white. I encourage you to use felt colours to match your graduate’s school colours or whatever colours you would like to use.

Let’s gather our supplies and tools:

• Felt – Premium Wool Blend Craft Felt in the following colors:
• Purple
• White
• Hunter Green
• Glass bottle – pop bottle (vintage or new) or any bottle with a narrow opening
• 18-gauge wrapped floral wire and green floral tape
• Fabric scissors, pliers and wire cutters
• Fine tip hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Clover Mini Iron*, hair spray and a Wool Ironing Mat
• Paper, pen and embroidery floss for the note

I prefer to use either 100% wool or wool blend felt when I make felt flowers, but you can also use Acrylic Craft Felt.

*Adding texture to your felt using the Clover mini-iron is not necessary for this project, but if you would like to learn something new and give your felt flowers a little more texture and dimension give it a try.

Let’s get started:

Download and print the Midge flower template on standard 8.5 x 11” paper, size as is.

1. Cut the felt “flower centre” using the pattern template. Create a fringe edge as shown above.
2. Add hot glue to the uncut edge and roll it around the end of the wire stem …
3. to create the floral centre.

4. Next cut six “small petals” and five “large petals”. Make small slit in each of the small petals, as shown above to create two flaps.
5. We are going to give the small petals a little more shape. Start by adding a small dab of glue on one of the flaps that you just created in step 4 …
6. cross the two flaps, and hold in place to form the curved petals.

7. Add the first layer of three small petals to the flower centre. Place a dab of glue on the bottom of each petal …
8. and position the petals to cover the back of the flower centre.
9. Create the second layer of the flower using the last three small petals. Start by positioning the first petal so it overlaps two of the petals in the first layer and continue until all of the small petals are glued in place.

10. The five large petals will make up the third layer. All five large petals will be slightly overlapping so they are evenly spaced …
11. and glued in place.
12. Cut the calyx and all three leaves using the pattern template. Snip a small hole in the middle of the calyx so it can be added to the wire stem.

13. Spray the calyx and all of the leaves with hair spray to stiffen.
14. Use the Clover mini-iron to add crease marks to the felt. You create the creases by angling the iron, so you are just using the side of the iron, as you press into the felt. Note: Protect your work surface by ironing the felt on a wool ironing mat. Be very careful not to touch any of the metal elements on the iron and the iron holder.
15. If you are not sure where to add creases, the pattern template gives you a rough guide.

16. Crease all of the leaves with the mini-iron.
17. Insert the floral wire into the hole of the calyx so that the textured crease side of the calyx is showing underneath the flower. Glue the calyx to the base of the flower.
18. Now it’s time to add the leaves to the stem. Start with “leaf one”, add a dab of glue to the bottom of the leaf and wrap it around the stem. Continue down the stem with “leaf two” followed by “leaf three”.

19. If you would like to add floral tape to the wire stem, you can do it before or after you add the leaves. Either way works. Tip: I recommend making a small loop at the bottom of the stem as shown in step 23 so that the string will be easier to attach to the wire stem.
20. Now that your Midge flower is complete, let’s create our note. Your note should be approximately ¾” high and as long as 8 ½”. If you need some inspiration for what to say, I included a number of messages that would be appropriate for a graduate on the template.
21. Roll up the note so that the message is on the inside. The paper roll needs to be tight and small enough to fit into the bottle easily.
    Tip: Use your pen to roll the paper tightly.

22. Tie the paper with the string and add a knot to hold in place.
23. Tie the opposite end of the string to the bottom of the wire stem.
24. Drop the note into the bottle, feed the string and wire stem into the bottle … and that’s it!

Your flower message in a bottle is now ready to be gifted to someone special.

Here’s a bonus idea! These felt flowers also make wonderful gift topper. Simply tuck a floral stem under a ribbon, as you can see on this wood gift box.

If you are unable to find a soda bottle, and you feel like your bottle is too plain, consider adding a ribbon to make it a little more special.

Let’s get creative. Personalize the ribbon by adding the graduate’s name. I used Cricut iron on vinyl to add a name to this cotton twill ribbon.

Note: If you are using a ribbon that cannot tolerate the heat of an iron, Cricut permanent vinyl will adhere to most ribbons.

Don’t have anyone graduating this year? How about making one of these for a friend for their birthday! Think of this DIY project as an alternative to a card for any occasion and let your imagination go.

I hope that this post inspires you to make this felt flower message in a bottle project. If you do, I would love to see your finished projects. Please tag @the_felt_store and myself at @makeandmerryco so we can all see what you are creating.