Sometimes, in order to decorate your apartment, it is not necessary to buy a wardrobe or chest of drawers. With the help of your imagination, skillful hands and time, you can make various interior elements that will not only serve as decoration, but will also be useful for the household. For example, if you make a suitcase, it will look beautiful and original, and at the same time, having some tools at hand, you can make compartments in it with your own hands, which can be used to sort things.
First of all, a homemade suitcase can help in allocating space, so you need to create it in the style of your apartment or the room where it will be located. In order to create a suitcase, you do not need to have any special skills; you can make it simply using a suitable master class.
If you don’t have enough imagination to design your suitcase, you can look at photos of existing options or come up with your own combination different styles. First, you need to think about the size of the future suitcase, its shape and approximate design; for convenience, all this can be depicted on paper and some sketches made. At the same time, you can even draw in detail all the compartments in the suitcase and decorations.
When creating a suitcase, you need to remember that it can serve as small cabinet for clothes, for children's things or as a storage place for kitchen items. Therefore, having decided on its dimensions, we move on to the technique of execution, the choice of the material from which it will be made.
The most simple option creating a suitcase will be a reconstruction of an existing old suitcase. Typically, for this procedure you need to take an old suitcase in the shape of a rectangle and make a new wardrobe out of it for your things. An old suitcase doesn’t even need to be decorated with anything; it will look beautiful in any interior style.
You can, of course, remake a new suitcase, but it will still be useful on trips, and if the wrong things are placed in it, it may get dirty or the inside of it may deteriorate, and then the suitcase will not be suitable for use.
If the size, design and purpose of the new item are chosen, you must choose the method by which this suitcase will be made. First easy way involves creating it from cardboard. As you might guess, upon completion of the process you will have a neat cardboard suitcase in your hands. In this case, the cardboard must be very dense, and the creator must choose the shape of the suitcase himself. The suitcase can be round, square, triangular or diamond-shaped. It all depends on the desires and imagination of the person.
In order to make a cardboard suitcase, you need a large piece of cardboard; for convenience, it is better to cut out all its parts on the box at once, then simply fold them and glue them together. You can make a suitcase with a handle or create the illusion of wheels.
But the most important step will be decorating the suitcase. To do this, you will need fabric that can be used to cover the craft from the inside and outside. IN in this case Any fabric will do, and you can also choose the color to suit your taste. The resulting suitcase can even be taken on the road as a cosmetic bag or a small accessory for hygiene products.
Using exactly the same technology you can make a suitcase out of a box. A shoebox or any other box is suitable for this, and the suitcase can have a removable lid or a glued one. The box can be painted, covered with colored cardboard or covered with fabric.
The strongest and most durable suitcase is made from plywood. For this you will need wooden boards, from which you can cut out all the parts for the suitcase. As for decorations: sometimes they are not needed, since the type of plywood can be very original and fit the style of any room. Such a suitcase can be used as a toolbox; usually, men make such an item themselves for their convenience. Girls can decorate the inside of such a suitcase with fabric, and leave the top in its original form. Just such a suitcase can be made with shelves inside so that you can sort your things according to shelves.
If you need a suitcase as a gift, it can be made of paper. At the same time, you can place a small gift inside the suitcase, and decorate the paper itself beautifully using different ribbons, paints and bows. A suitcase can be made for a ring if a young man wants to make an original proposal to his girlfriend. Such a gift will not leave anyone indifferent.
The exact same suitcase can be made from sweets. In this case, the entire suitcase can be candy or simply decorated with candy flowers. A girl will like such a suitcase, because you can eat sweets and use the suitcase for your things, for example, jewelry.
Using video tutorials, you can learn how to make a suitcase from mastic if you need to decorate a cake. Also, with the help of a training video, you can learn how to make a real suitcase in the shabby chic style, especially suitable for a gift or to highlight the style of the bedroom. For a more serious interior, a suitcase in the steampunk style is suitable; it is easy to make, and appearance will resemble a pirate suitcase.
One of my favorite types of bags is the doctor's suitcase. This is a bag that has a metal loop frame inside it that closes the suitcase. Such frames can be purchased, but they are expensive and Bad quality. Since I make the bag myself, I’ll make the frame myself too. In this master class I will show you how to make a leather doctor's suitcase with your own hands.
Watch my other master classes.
Tools and materials.
I bought all my leather working tools quite a long time ago. The photo doesn't show everything I have, this is what I use most often. You can start working with leather with a small set of tools. This could be: a knife, a ruler, an awl, leather needles. But the more complex your projects, the more diverse the tools you'll need. And the more tools you have, the better quality your products are. You also need a sponge for applying paint. Mat for cutting leather. I use 4 cutting boards that I screw to my workbench.
But first of all, theory. In the photo I showed my favorite books.
I also have an engraver - drill - Dremel, which I have been using for about 14 years. Very helpful when working with hard skin. You can use it to drill holes or use an emery drum to sand away glue ends or trim bag handles.
For the doctor's suitcase you will also need a drill, a set of drills, a hacksaw and oil.
Materials.
I dye the leather for my projects before I start cutting it. I have found this to be much more convenient.
The dimensions of the parts are:
I cut all the parts from leather 8 ounces thick, except for the braiding of the frame and sides, they are made from leather 4-5 ounces thick.
I make the frame for the bag from a steel strip 1.5mm*12mm*1200mm. First I draw on paper to decide on the dimensions. The finished frame should have the shape of a rectangle 40cm19cm in the open position. Allow enough clearance for the leather you will wrap it in later. The frame should open and close easily, the skin should not rub. At the ends of the frame halves, at a distance of 10-12mm from the edge, drill holes to match the size of the belt screws.
Moisten the lengthwise center strips for the steel frame with water and fold them in half. Let it dry a little and you can apply glue. Wrap the frame parts in leather as shown in the photo. Punch holes in the leather for the belt screws and connect the halves of the frame. There is no need to cut off the ends of the skin yet; we will do this later.
I didn't make a pattern for the handles I put on this suitcase, but you can find one in Al Stollman's book. For the suitcase, I made two handles, which consist of two parts - the handle itself and the strap with which it will be attached to the body of the bag. Don't forget to paint the inside of the handles that may be visible when assembled.
Preparing the front and back panels.
Treat the top and bottom ends of the front and back panels. Using an edge cutter, cut a groove for the seam at a distance of 6 mm from the edge. Punch holes for the thread. I glue the panels to the bottom of the suitcase. I sew them together, glue the leather legs and sew them on too.
I glue and sew the frame to the front and back panels. To make sewing easier, you can remove the belt screws. Then I glue the metal sheet to the bottom of the suitcase. This sheet will protect the suitcase from sagging. I glue thin leather on top of the bottom to hide the metal sheet.
Sewing the sides on this suitcase is quite difficult. I mark 12mm at the bottom and a 75mm strip in the center, see photo. The sides will be sewn along two stripes in the center. I apply glue and apply the sides to the jumpers. I tap it with a hammer and sew it on.
Now comes the hardest part of the job. The dimensions of the sides have changed a little after sewing them to the jumpers and I trim them a little at the bottom. I start by stretching and gluing the side panel to the main part. You may need to try on several times to get it to fit correctly. You'll probably have to trim it down a bit. Then I glue, sew and finish the ends.
At the same stage, I trim and sew up the ends of the steel frame braid.
I sew on one of the fastener straps, retreating about 75mm from the top of the suitcase. I didn't take many photos at this stage as I was in a rush to finish. But I hope that what we have should be enough to understand how to sew on the clasp and handles. Don't forget to glue everything and then sew it on.
Translation: LeatherThoughts
Making a suitcase with your own hands, as it turns out, is very simple. Much easier than restoring an old suitcase. This does not require any “protected” elements and devices, and that’s all necessary materials available and sold in stores at fairly low prices.
As often happens in creative practice, the necessary things are usually found in the trash, like our Soviet-era suitcase, slightly larger than a briefcase. Its dimensions were suitable for storing a bunch of jewelry and trinkets, woven, but lying around idle. The very shabby, dirty and unaesthetic appearance of a useful household item left no doubt: restoration of the old suitcase was necessary.
First, the fittings were carefully removed and placed to soak in a jar of gasoline. Then the linings and ancient torn dermantine were removed. Then it turned out that the side boards making up the frame were rotten, and the walls of the lids were generally made of thick cardboard, punched to huge holes in several places.
The cardboard was torn off and thrown away. Planks were cut out instead the right size from hardboard. Wooden frame sanded to white wood, a couple of walls were replaced with new ones and reinforced with glue and screws. The hardboard covers are glued on and nailed down.
So, we can say that we started constructing a suitcase with our own hands almost from scratch.
Dermantin was used for finishing dark brown. The dermantine is marked strictly according to the dimensions of each flap of the suitcase, taking into account the folding on the walls of the inner sides.
Carefully cover the surface of the dermantine with PVA glue, and, accordingly, one of the lids of the suitcase. We glue the material, carefully expelling all air bubbles and excess adhesive liquid, smoothing out any irregularities. We have a felt squeegee for this purpose.
We especially conscientiously roll the material along the perimeter of the edges so that the suitcase made by hand looks aesthetically pleasing, as if it came out of a factory assembly line yesterday.
The hardest part is gluing the corners. We deliberately do not provide patterns, because we assume that everyone home handyman has its own vision of technology high-quality finishing corners when restoring an old suitcase. The main thing here is precision, a lot of glue and diligence.
We will show a number of photographs that we hope will help clarify technological process pasting corners.
When the dermantine is stretched onto the frame, it is recommended to walk over the set glue with a warm iron to secure (bake) the gluing. Be sure to iron with a cloth, otherwise your synthetic material will melt.
At this point, we consider the first stage of making a suitcase with our own hands, or restoring an old one, complete. Therefore, we will put back his fittings.
For the interior upholstery, we will make pads on padding polyester, covered with synthetic velvet, or any other suitable textile. The illustration shows the components of “velvet” pillows and part of the procedure for their layer-by-layer formation.
When the pillows are ready, coat the inner walls of the product with glue and glue it inside the pillow.
This is what our “new” handmade suitcase looks like.
We did not attach the handle. The project is to make our suitcase worn on a shoulder strap, like a sketchbook, but there is no time yet to look for suitable fittings and options for attaching them.
So, we have created a functional item, the practical applicability of which is not limited to storing jewelry or tools. The master class not only clearly shows how to make a suitcase with your own hands, but also comes in handy as instructions on how to restore an old suitcase.
Materials and tools used in the master class:
Time spent on restoration:
A few days ago we showed 35 ideas, . Would you like to get such a convenient thing, but don’t know where to start? In this collection of master classes you will see 5 easy ways to make a craft suitcase with your own hands.
Learn 5 tutorials on how to transform an old suitcase into a cute craft case and make yours even better!
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Craftswoman Vanessa offers an easy way to transform even the oldest and most boring suitcase. For this you will need inexpensive materials and a minimum of skills.
before:
Even if a suitcase is attractive in appearance, its lining is rarely as beautiful. Feel free to remove it and paint the inside of the suitcase some nice color - for example, green. Then cut out two blanks from cardboard (according to the shape of the bottom and the inside of the lid) and cover them with paper (or cotton fabric) in a flower pattern. Make holes for the elastic bands in the cardboard for the top part, thread the elastic bands through and tie with reverse side, then glue the cardboard to the inside of the lid and frame it with a beautiful braid.
Now the lid of the suitcase will help you always keep scissors, spools, needles and other necessary little things at hand. And in the main compartment you can store leftover fabrics, braid, needles, pins and buttons.
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One Swiss needlewoman loves retro things self made and cannot imagine his life without travel. All these hobbies came together in a cute little craft case that she made with her own hands.
The basis for the “magic chest” was an old boring suitcase. Its sides were painted white, and the standard upholstery was replaced with floral fabric. And the thing, battered by life, turned into a nice vintage hand-made item.
The suitcase has also been transformed inside. The dark bottom was covered with brightly checkered fabric. The inside of the lid was decorated with multi-colored fabric pockets - not only beautiful, but also functional. You can store large items in them. Small baskets and containers are suitable for skeins of braid and pieces of fabric. And elastic bands and small pockets on the sides will help organize the most small items(needles, pins, spools).
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Just look at this suitcase! Bright prints on the outside, old pages on the inside. This kind of thing is usually expensive, but you can do it yourself.
The basis is the same old suitcase. We will decorate it not only inside, but also outside.
before:
To decorate the exterior, Amy chose fabric with delicious candy prints. If you don’t find exactly the same one, you can choose any other one, but be sure to be bright and with an interesting pattern.
The interior looks especially luxurious. All thanks unusual decor from... pages of an old dictionary, which are glued to the bottom and walls.
Amy made the lid of the suitcase not only beautiful, but also functional, by attaching small plastic jars for small items. They can be placed on superglue or attached using double-sided tape.
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Does your daughter like to sew, knit or draw? Give your little fairy a magical craft chest like Megan did. All you need is a small suitcase (not necessarily an old one!), a sheet of colored cardboard and a little imagination.
Attach the cardboard to the lid of the suitcase with inside and cut the workpiece according to its shape. If you don’t have multi-colored cardboard, take regular one and cover it with fabric. Then make holes to secure holders for bobbins and needles (these can be made from regular elastic). Glue the cardboard to the inside of the lid and your cute craft bag is ready!
It can be difficult for children to maintain order, especially in small things. Help them in this difficult task by equipping their suitcase with a container with dividers. Now buttons, beads, pins and other necessary little things will be in one place and will no longer scatter throughout the suitcase.
Did you get inspired and want to do something else? Don't limit your creative impulses! Sew a pincushion, a bag for small items, a pencil case for pencils and felt-tip pens into the suitcase set - yourself or involve your daughter in this. Now your child will be able to boast of original handmade things.
