Monday, May 9, 2011

Personalized Beach Gear

Our niece Ally turned 10 a few weeks ago. Her family lives in Clemson, South Carolina, and if you know anything about this town...they bleed orange and purple! Ally's on the town's swim team, so I made her a quick birthday present of a few swim "accessories" to use after swim practice, or on one of their many trips to the lake.
The purple terry cloth cover up I picked up at Target, and added an "A" for Ally to the front...
and the iconic Clemson tiger paw to the back.
I used an orange washcloth to make both appliqués. Any old fabric would work, but I liked the idea of keeping this beach/swim dress consistently terry cloth.
I also picked up this orange & white striped beach towel (for $6.99!) again, from Target, which I monogrammed with Ally's initials.
The letters are just an applique I cut out of regular quilters cotton. I did changed my stitch setting so that the zig zag stitches were super close together...both because I hoped it would help against fraying and I liked the border that it created. I also treated the edges with fray check. Not sure if that will help or not, but towels get a lot of heavy use, so I figured it couldn't hurt.
With my various projects the last few years for Ally & her family, I'm getting pretty good at these tiger paws...maybe I need to set up shop in Clemson?!
This project was so quick & easy, everyone should make some swim or beach gear for your favorite team! 
A fun way to root for the home team while soaking up the sun.

2 comments:

ginny said...

I love how you take something inexpensive and make it so 'expensive' with pennies. What a great idea for Ally. I can think of a couple other little ones who could use some swim accessories:) I may have to try this! Great job Dani!!!

Brittany @ Each Day Gets Better. said...

love the floral monogramming on the striped towel, very cute. great job!