G1 played Cogsworth at our Primary School Musical – Beauty and the Beast. It was the first time he’s ever participated in the school musical and we were so proud of his efforts. When a friend asked if I was going to get him a bouquet of flowers for the night of the last show, I joked that he would probably prefer a chocolate bouquet. Since the only chocolate bouquets I could get from the florist uses Ferrero Rocher – which has nuts so I can’t bring it to our nut-free school – I decided to make a DIY chocolate bouquet.
I scoured the Internet for ideas and finally modified Learning Center’s felt flower bouquet to make this:
DIY Chocolate Bouquet
What you will need:
- felt – red, green, blue (or other colours if you want different coloured flowers)
- ribbon for tying the bouquet
- chenille pipe cleaners – doesn’t matter what colour. I used black.
- needle and thread
- hot glue gun
- chocolates – bonbons or Lindt balls are ideal, but anything with a sweet wrapper is great
- wooden disposable chopsticks
The Pistil
Wrap the end of one chenille pipe cleaner around the bonbon like this:
The Petals
Cut out strips of red felt in the shape of a trapezium with the following side measurements – 20 cm, 5cm, 20cm, 6cm. It should look like this:
Note: The length of the felt can be adjusted depending on how many times you want it to wrap around. Anywhere between 12cm to 24cm works nicely.
Using the needle and thread, add a running stitch along one side and pull the edges so it bunches up like this:
Wrap the bunched up felt around the bonbon and sew it in place.
Should look like this when done:
The leaves
To make the leaves, cut trapezoidal pieces of green felt. I used a triangular shape but it doesn’t quite work as well. You need a small horizontal edge at the bottom to wrap the leaf nicely around the flower.
Wrap the green felt around the bottom part of the flower and use a hot glue gun to stick it in place. It should looks something like this:
The Stem
The chenille pipe doesn’t have enough body to hold the weight of the flower, so you will have to wrap it around a wooden stick. You don’t want droopy flowers, so make sure you insert part of the stick into the center of the flower. The end result should look like this:
Floral Wrapping
To wrap you bouquet, use a piece of blue felt (or any other colour you prefer). The size of the felt depends on how many flowers you made for your bouquet. Tie the bouquet in place with the ribbon and you’re done!
Final point to note – the chocolates are pretty secure so they won’t fall out. However, they are also not easy to remove.
