DIY Applique Name Beach Towels

A few years ago Pam gave me towels with my boys names appliqued on them as a thank you gift. They were the best thing ever! It was so easy to keep track of them and it deterred anyone with sticky fingers at the pool from helping themselves. 4 years later they needed new ones so I decided to make them for their Easter baskets.

Here is how you make them step by step. First buy towels 🙂 I bought mine on sale from Pottery Barn because I like them to be a very simple pattern like stripes so the name stands out. Next find fabrics that coordinate with your towels. You will also want to buy some Heat n’ bond.

Lay them out about how you would want the letters.

 

Next you want to use heat n’ bond to attach it to the fabric by ironing it on. Be sure to follow the instructions on the heat n’ bond you buy. Mine was hold a hot iron without steam for 10 seconds.

Once you have your fabrics with the Heat n’ bond on the back you need to cut out the letters. I used my Cricut explore to cut mine so it was super easy. If you don’t have a machine to cut them, just trace and cut them.

Once you have them cut peal the backing off the heat n’ bond and lay your name out on the towels.

Then use the iron and press the letters onto your towel.

They should be pressed down good so they wont come up.

If you want to make sure the letters don’t come up in the long run you need to sew along them to really secure them down. Its not as hard as you think. When you get to the corner keep the needle in the towel, lift up your foot, turn the towel to the next angle, put the foot back down and continue to sew. On really hard parts I didn’t even use the pedal, I just turned the knob.

Here is how they look after being sewed down and washed.

I love how they turned out. My boys always seem to be more responsible with their towels when its easy to identify theirs. They cant claim its not theirs when their name is across the whole thing!

They look perfect in their Easter baskets with a new swim suit, goggles, and diving toys and now they are set for the summer!