Mod Podge Fabric Covered Suitcase DIY

I’m super excited about today’s DIY! It comes from my sweet friend, Kristine. Let me just say that Kristine is one crafty-woman! She sewed her wedding gown and reception dress! She also has an Etsy shop where she sells her handmade creations. This weekend she sent over the photo above and I loved it so much I asked her to share it here. So here’s Kristine:

Here’s the “before” of the suitcase.

Supplies:

1. Mod Podge
2. An X-Acto Knife
3. Fabric -about 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 yards should be plenty, depending on how big suitcase is. I used just under 1 yard total on this.
4. A paintbrush
5. Tape measurer
6. That darn ugly suitcase!

Playlist:
Stars -esp The Five Ghosts album :)

Cost:
$1.50  -$5.99 for Mod Podge. I only used 1/4 of that.
$1.00 -Garage sale suitcase
$4.00 -Fabric. $7.99 a yard plus a 50% off coupon. I only used a yard
$6.50 -Total cost of project!!! Not to shabby! I’m VERY proud of that actually :)

To start, I found this treasure of a suitcase at a garage sale. It’s old and ugly and a perfect for this type of project :)

The insides are still in tact and the handle is a little worn, but definitely not unusable.

Before I did anything, I cleaned it up (focusing on the parts that will not be covered with fabric) with a little magical help from a Magic Eraser. The suitcase had tons of scuff marks and wear on it but this helped clean that right up!

The next step is to measure the fabric that you’ll need. Section the project out (front, back, side panels) and figure out how much fabric it will take to cover each. Don’t stress about getting this exact. As a matter of fact, I added an extra inch to the dimensions to make sure that it was more than enough fabric to cover it. Example: There are two panels on each side of my suitcase that are 16” x 3” so I added an inch and cut out a rectangle to fit it. Easy.

You’re probably covering details like a handle and latches. I’ve seen people just cut big ugly squares around this and it looks terrible.. I left these details to deal with later and really only cut X’s around them at this point to make sure that I can glue the fabric around them. Remember, that X-Acto Knife will help you make it look perfect later.

Take your paintbrush and brush the area you’re covering with fabric with Mod Podge.

Don’t put too much or it’ll get messy! I started with a full 16 oz container of Mod Podge and used about 1/4 of it total on this project, even after putting a final coat on top!

As soon as this dries, which shouldn’t take too long at all, grab that X-Acto Knife and have at it! Remember to be careful when using sharp tools ;)

As soon as you’re done detailing and trimming that extra fabric, you’ll have a fancy, like-new suitcase! Add an extra layer of Mod Podge to make sure that the fabric is nice and secure on there, let it dry for a bit, and you’re done!

It’s a simple as that!