Monogrammed Applique Towels

About a week ago a friend let us use his beach condo for the weekend. It was an amazing weekend and the condo was perfect! We had such a good time.

When we returned I wanted to get something to thank the owner, like a gift card or something but B insisted that I MAKE something for him. I was at a loss. What the heck to you make someone who has a beach condo?

At some point I got the idea that I should make monogrammed beach towels. How hard could it be?

Well, not hard, I guess....if you are good at cutting things out or if you are more patient about the method you use to do that.

I used:

1 towel

fabric scraps

fusible interfacing

iron

sewing machine

scissors

The first thing I did was to draw my letter on the fabric. The smart thing to do here would be to use some sort of stencil and not just free hand it...but...I just drew a "J."

Then I pinned it to the fusible interfacing (I used stitch witchery) and cut out the letter from both of them at the same time so they would at least be the same.

I set the iron to wool as instructed on the stitch witchery packaging. Then I layered the cut outs on the towel where I wanted it. I used a damp cloth (a bandanna) to fuse the cloth to the towel. The package said to press down and not to slide the iron so that's what I did.

I REALLY pressed it on. I didn't want it to go anywhere. Then I flipped it and did the other side. I probably did it longer than was really necessary. (The package says not to do it too long....but how will you KNOW until it is TOO LATE?!)

Then I loaded up some contrasting thread onto my machine and set it to a zig zag stitch. I then proceeded to s-l-o-w-ly sew around the edge of the letter. Since I'm not so great at sewing, and I hardly ever sew curves, I really took my time on this step. I still messed up a little. Whatever. It's a design element. It's folksy. Plus, it was a J...it could have been much worse. I only recommend making towels for people with easy initials.

That was it. It probably took me about an hour to do both of them. They are obviously not perfect. I made a practice one and two real ones...and I think that if I made two more I'd start to get the hang of it! Luckily my initial is a "J."

I rolled the towels up together and tied a big pink grosgrain ribbon around them. They were well received. B heard the owner telling one of their co-workers that I was really crafty. :D


ETA: This just in! The wife of the owner flipped out and wants more towels! The owner said to B today, "SO when are ya'll going to the beach again?  My wife wants you to stay at our place and make her more towels!"