Refurbished Vintage Carry on Luggage

A little while back I did a trade with the lovely Sarah from Parkadilly. I made her a tote bag and she gave me 2 vintage carry on luggage. Sarah is the queen of vintage finds so I was very excited to see the vintage goodness she had for me! One was in perfect shape, just need some air refresher to rid of that “old” smell but it was the second one that I was most excited about!

As you can see this beauty needed a little work and I was so excited to change it! We discovered that it is from around 1930-1950 and the red is alligator skin! There was a little water/mold damage in the bottom of it and the mirror had a chunk out it it. I wanted to keep the mirror and hardware to have the vintage feel intact. This guy is so old that the fabric and cardboard came off with little force and I was able to salvage the mirror. I found these awesome mint green luggage on Pinterest and it became my inspiration! This is what I ended up with!

 

I used a Satin Mint Green spray paint and lined it with a turquoise silk. The sides have felt under the silk for padding and the bottom and mirror surround have cotton batting to give extra cushion. Lots of glue and a few burnt fingers from my glue gun but it came out just as I hoped! There are still a few areas on the metal hardware that I need to clean up with some acetone but overall I am super happy with it! A friend of mine was over while I was painting it and desperately wanted it but this baby is mine! I cannot wait to find more of these guys to make many many more. This one will be used as a display case at my future craft shows so if you would like to see it in person, keep and eye on my calendar for my next show!