DIY Wedding Cards Vintage Suitcase Tutorial

diy vintage wedding suitcase tutorial ikat chevron painting

I recently took a suitcase that I had been hoarding for years and redid it for my future sister-in-law Tara. I had made a suitcase for my wedding and I still love to look in it. I put everything special in it from that day from the napkins to the flower I wore in my hair. I wanted her to have the same box. I decided this time I would share a tutorial for those who want to do the same. It turned out super fun and she said she might use it in her wedding. It would be great for wedding cards or gift cards.

Here is a little look at the before and after. It was very sad before but I knew it had potential…

Ok here we go. It was super ugly but I could tell it wouldn’t be for long.

If you are choosing a suitcase this is actually the best kind. Unless the insides are perfect, which I doubt if you get them from the same places as me, you will have to paint or decoupage it. Rip out all the loose lining and clean it with a wet rag. If it has lots of metal inside it might be harder to redo so look for one that is like this with a paper inside.

Here’s my suitcase secret…acrylic gesso. This is the same thing that painter’s use to cover a canvas. You can get it at any craft store and I think I even got mine from Walmart. It creates a smooth white surface. Now I learned that the smoother and thicker you paint it on, the better. I just slapped mine on and regretted it later. Put painter’s tape around the handle too just in case you want to leave it the original color.

Try to get as close to the hardware as you can. You can always scrape it off later but the less you get on it, the better.

Now that it has a coat of gesso, tape off where you want to paint. If you are just doing one color than this step isn’t necessary. I wanted to make the ends and trim yellow so I taped it off. Painter’s tape is best.

Next, I painted the whole body of the suitcase a really pretty cream color. Use a big brush for the middle and a tiny brush for around the hardware. You might want to tape off the yellow part if you are doing more than one color like I did.

Next, decide what pattern you want to do. I am obsessed with all things chevron right now so I decided to go with that. I wanted to do the imperfect chevron pattern so I made a little stencil with some cardstock and painter’s tape and traced it lightly with a yellow pencil onto the suitcase. If you are doing this pattern, you don’t have to be perfect because you are going to paint over it.

I’m finished tracing and now it’s time to paint!

Now with a small flat brush, trace the pattern and then drag the paint up and down like I did. It won’t look good at first but after about 3 coats of doing the exact same thing, it will look great. Don’t drag it too far or your chevron stripes will merge and you don’t want that to happen.

This was after one coat. You need to continue the process until you can’t see the traced lines anymore.

This was after 4 coats. Looking good so far…now you have to open it up!

I kinda thought I was done until I opened it up again…make sure it’s cleaned up so that whatever you do will stick to it.

I kinda skipped some steps because things didn’t work out the way I wanted them to. I decoupaged all of that green tissue paper inside the case. I then decided that I didn’t like the color. After I decoupaged it in there, I painted three coats of the same yellow paint. I liked how the tissue paper gave the inside a uniform texture so I’m going to act like I did that on purpose. I have also put wrapping paper, tissue paper, and scrapbook paper in my cases so click here to see the others. http://deonnawadechildatheart.blogspot.com/search/label/suitcases

Now you need to seal all of your beautiful work with my best friend, Mod Podge. I chose the glossy because that is my favorite but it’s up to you. Coat the entire case inside and out. It will look white at first but will turn to clear very soon when it’s all nice and dry.

This is my computer screen when I was making the little banner to go inside in case you wanted to see the sizing on the mat. This cricut is so much fun!

Now take jute or whatever ribbon you would like and make your banner. I hot glued it to the top corners. You could also make a banner that says “CARDS” for the wedding if you want to use it for that.

The inside was still kinda boring so I added some lace trim to the edges. You can see in this picture how it covered up the hot glue mess from attaching the banner to the case.

Are you kidding me! I ran out about two inches shy of finishing! This is when you really have to get creative with what you have.

Tadah! I wanted to glue a burlap bow there from the beginning…to make this bow just fold the ribbon into the middle and then wrap a seperate piece around the seam. Very easy and cute! Ribbon with wire is best.

Cutesy tootsy!

Now for the handle…I just put a drop of hot glue at the base of the handle and started wrapping the jute around. You could use any thin ribbon or yarn. Every two or three wraps I would put more glue down. When the handle curves you need glue every time.

I just had to show this…ouch! Always use a LOW temp hot glue gun like I did. You are for sure going to get glue on your hand so make it as painless as you can. Yikes I need lotion!

Tie a ribbon on one side and you are done with the handle.

Now for a no fun but oh so necessary step, cleaning up the hardware. Take an exacto knife that you don’t care about that much and start scraping. It might take a while but it will make the suitcase look much better.