How to Sew DIY Personalized Beach Towels with Applique

Sew names, phrases, or cute designs to personalize beach towels! This easy sewing project makes a great gift. If you have a fabric cutter you can use it, but it’s totally not needed to make cute alphabet letters and more, and then applique them to a towel or other item.

I didn’t need an embroidery machine or anything fancy to make the applique letters. Well… I didn’t need anything fancy to make these but I did decide to cut the fabric with my Cricut Explore Air.

Scroll down so I can show you how to create big applique letters using just your computer too.

Since I wanted to use my Cricut cutter machine this time, I ironed HeatnBond lite onto the back of my fabric pieces and cut out the letters with the machine. So easy.

If you don’t have a Cricut cutting machine, you can use any word processing program (like Word or Pages) to pick out a font and enlarge the letters to a size you like.

Then print them out and use fusible web adhesive (like HeatnBond lite) to trace the letters. After that, fuse the traced shapes to the back of your fabric and cut them out with regular scissors.

I show how to use HeatnBond lite in this cute applique tutorial.

Then iron the letters onto the towels and satin stitched (a very short stitch zig zag stitch) around them. The trick to a pretty satin stitch is usually to use some kind of embroidery stabilizer (I like the iron on kind) on the back of the project. But towels are thick enough that it usually isn’t necessary.

Here’s another tip: I LOVE using embroidery thread for applique projects. It gives it a special sheen and makes the design really POP! Polyester embroidery thread is more resistant to sunlight and laundry detergents than cotton thread too.

I have lots more free applique designs for you to download below. Have fun personalizing all your beach towels!