I made my first Mod Podged suitcase years ago and have been stock piling vintage suitcases ever since. Whenever I am out thrifting I keep my eyes open for nice old hard sided suitcases. There's a few things I look for:
1. Good outside surface free of dents.
2. Working locks (bonus if there are keys!).
3. No weird smells (old stuff can have smells that are hard to get rid of).
4. Inside lining intact and free of rips.
Once you have your suitcase you'll need a few other things:
1. A water based matte sealer like Mod Podge ( Biggest jar 32 fl oz $11 at Walmart) There are also recipes to make your own on the internet. Haven't tried any of them as I am all about saving time at this junction in my life. I will definitely try them later!
2. Big paintbrush or foam brush. I use a large bristle paint brush.
3. Fabric. I only use good quality cotton fabric. I used a polly blend once and when the fabric dried it showed the suitcase color through. It was not pretty. The most time consuming part is cutting the fabric into 6x6 squares. I used pinking shears at first, then transitioned to a rotary tool to save time. You can cut a straight edge but you will have lots of strings when the squares fray. To save even more time/energy I now just use pre cut fabric squares that come in Charm packs. They are a little more expensive but well worth it to me..all about saving time/energy lately. If you cut your fabric you will also need a large cutting mat, and ruler or quilters rule. These things make it much easier to cut straight even squares.
4. Paper towels or wet wipes. Just in case you need to wipe up a drip or dribble.
I am recovering from a surgery I had in April so I have been covering the suitcases while sitting in my recliner watching TV. I don't cover me or my work area, but would suggest doing so. Once the sealer dries it's pretty hard to remove. Here's my process...
1. Brush on the sealer in the space for one square. I start with the the boarder first. I complete the whole outside boarder, then work my way starting at the top from left to right downward. Kind of like reading a book.
3. Brush sealer on top of the smoothed fabric. You don't want to have gobs of sealer on top but you don't want it to be dry either. Just enough to cover the fabric, should be slightly sheer not solid white from the sealer.
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Then repeat steps alternating the fabric patterns until one side of the suitcase is completed. I usually let it dry overnight and then do the other side. It gets really messy trying to work on the other side while the one side is wet. It doesn't look that great when it's wet, But when it dries it will look really nice.
I created one for each of my children this past week. I am going to put all their baby mementos I saved for them in it. You can also use them to store crafts or art supplies. I made one and put a baby shower gift inside.
The uses are really limitless!
Happy Creating!
