Today I finished adding a little functionality to a Boyle train case I bought at an estate sale. I got it with the purpose of using it as a travel art case, so I felt a slight makeover was in order. Here's a picture of it unchanged with a few items I plan on keeping in it.
As you can see the inside of the lid is covered in fabric, and has a mirror held loosely by loops. As is, it didn't really serve a purpose from an art case perspective, so I let my mind mull over the possibilities. It finally settled on using it as a place to hold pencils, pens, markers, brushes, and the like. And so it began...
I ripped everything out (trim, fabric and backing), and this is what I ended up with. A fellow creative on IG told me "... it looked like a brown monster with googlie eyes and green trousers (pants)...", and I can totally see that now. 😄
Through a little adhesive trial and error, I was able to make this makeover work. The part covering the inside of the lid is a sandwich of burlap (top), Medium Weight Fuse-N-Shape (middle), and felt from an old Christmas party costume (shhh don't tell my son lol). I used the fabric and cardboard backing I removed as a templates. The burlap was cut to the size of the fabric, and the interfacing and felt were cut to the size of the cardboard. I fused everything together, sewed elastic to it (at 1/2 inch intervals), and adhered the sandwich to the inside of the lid with a liberal amount of Mod Podge for fabric.
I let that dry overnight, and then adhered a simple black box pleat taffeta trim along the top, sides and about an inch in on each side of the bottom with Aleene's Turbo Tacky Glue. I also changed the trim on the section the spans between the lid and the bottom portion of the case, adhering it with Aleene's glue. I left it open to dry overnight, and the next morning -- violá! I couldn't be more satisfied with the results.
It's ready to withstand years to come of opening and closing, pushing and pulling, crafting/arting on the go.
I hope you enjoyed going through this little project with me. And if it inspires you, feel free to tag me on Instagram and/or Facebook, so I can enjoy, and be inspired by, how you made this little makeover your own.
Until next time!
Creatively Yours,
Jackie
