DIY Baptism gift under $15

We were able to attend a baptism for a very sweet baby girl this past weekend.
That Guy did the cake for the baptism reception and that was our "big" gift to her. But I still wanted to bring along a small something for her. (This particular little girl has a special spot in my heart).

I did not want to get her a bible.  Or a picture frame.  Or a Precious Moments figurine.  I was certain she would get those in spades, and how many baptism frames does one girl really need?

When I ran across this adorable poem on Pinterest, I knew it was something I could work with.   I loved making the comparison of washing the towel to become clean again with repentance. The poem was intended for the baptism of an older child and I needed it for a baby, so I knew I would have to alter it a bit.
Here is my altered version:

I bought Hilary a lovely white Lacoste towel from Winners (Marshalls for any american readers) for $12.99.  Yes, it's more than I usually spend, but like I said this little one has a special place in my heart and she's worth it.
I didn't want to just give her the towel though.  I wanted to make it special for her.  So, logically, I thought "Why not applique her name on the towel? That's a great idea!".  What I should have thought was "ummm, Rylan you have never appliqued. Anything. Ever".  Fortunately I didn't think that until it was much too late or this blog post may never have happened.

First I found a font I liked, then sized it to 225. I printed out her name in that font to use as a "pattern" for making my letters.  If you have artistic ability you might be able to skip this step.

Her name printed in a font I liked

 Then I pinned a scrap of light weigh fusible interfacing to the paper.  Because I did not want my letters on the towel to be backward I pinned the interfacing with the fusible (bumpy) side up. You could also use a product where both sides are fusible, like Heat 'N Bond, which might be nice to keep your letters from shifting as you sew.  But, alas, I had no Heat 'N Bond on hand, so interfacing it was.

Pinned with bumpy side up

 I traced the letters onto the interfacing.  Because the surface is bumpy it is hard to make all the straight edges very straight.  Do the best you can and give yourself grace for the rest. :)

The tracing isn't perfect... but it's not terrible either...

 Next, using an iron, fuse the interfacing to your fabric.  You only need a small scrap for this.
Remember your fusible side needs to go against the fabric, so your letters will be backward at this stage.

The letters should be backward here

 Cut out the letters.  I did this by hand with my giant sewing scissors, but smaller embroidery scissors might be much nicer to work with.
I pinned the letters to the towel (forward facing letters now because the interfacing is on the back side of the letters). I pinned them as straight as I could.  

Letters all pinned down

 Using a very small zig zag stitch I attached the letters to the towel. Below is a close up of my zig zag work.  Since this was my first time ever attempting something like this I learned a lot.  Part of what I learned was that if you have any hope of control or straight-ish lines you want to go slow. Not less fast; slow.
Turtle crawling through molasses slow. Internet Explorer slow. ;)
If you're working away and it never occurs to you that the child might graduate high school before you are done zig zag stitching you might be going too fast. Or you might have a lot more experience than I.

Remember that part where I said "give yourself
grace"? Yeah, that applies here too.

Finished, personalized towel.

Taa-daa!!!

 I made this for a baptism gift.  But you could personalize a beach towel, pair with some flip flops and a beach ball and it would be a great summer birthday gift as well.