Beach Please: DIY Graphic Towel

It seems beach towels fall into one of two categories: boring or pricey ($65 for a towel?!). And it’s frustrating when you have a super cute bikini and beach bag and a plain, solid towel.

I found a trick to turn that boring, decently-priced beach towel into a sassy, on-trend accessory. And even the least crafty person can make it happen.

Here is what you need:

- A solid beach towel (I used this towel and it worked perfectly. And the vibrant colors are even better!)
- Plastic letter stencils
- Duct tape
- Clorox Bleach pen (I was able to get by with one, but depending on how rich the color is or how bright you want your letters to be, I would get two to be safe.)

Start by laying out a piece of cardboard to put your towel on. The beach pen will soak through the towel and you don’t want to ruin your table or floor!

Lay out the stencil’s to spell whatever phrase you want to put on your towel. I chose ‘Beach Please’ because it’s pun-ny (haha get it?) and, well, I plan on taking it to the beach! I went word by word, since I obviously don’t have enough letters to spell both words out at the same time.

Line up your stencils and tape the edges with duct tape. This ensures the stencils don’t slip, and it’s much easier to stay in the lines when they don’t move. Use the bleach pen to fill in the spaces between the letters. The thicker, the better! Since the pens come out as gel, it’s easy to make sure you don’t miss any spots.

I went over each letter twice and then let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. I went back in and did a third coat and let that sit another 10 minutes. 

Carefully remove the stencils from the towel. The duct tape helps keep the letters together, so I was able to pull the stencils off all at once.

Line up your second word in the same manner, being careful not to disturb the bleach already on the towel. (In this case, I only had one ‘E’, so I left off the last ‘E’ and added it on last.)

Repeat the steps from the first word.

Once you have your words or phrases bleached on to the towel, rinse the towel off in a bathtub or large sink. This will give you an idea of how bleached the letters are and if needed, you can go back and put on another coat.

Last, wash the towel separately in a washing machine with cold water and mild detergent and you’re all set!

This towel has now become my favorite beach towel and it’s a fun to tell people (when they ask where you got it) that you made it yourself!