Up until this weekend, the weather in Seattle has been abnormally spring-like. It’s been perfect picnic weather, so I was inspired to make a picnic suitcase. What’s a picnic suitcase, you ask?. Well it’s just what it sounds like, a picnic basket in a suitcase. I finally finished it this weekend and low and behold, the rain came back. Oh well, once the weather improves, I’ll be ready.
I started with a plain suitcase from Goodwill Outlet.
After disinfecting it, I tore out the inner lining. I spent a lot of time figuring how to re-line it. In the end, I decided to use poster board as a backing. I cut the poster board into strips, as shown below.
Then I covered the poster board in scrap fabric that I had from an old shower curtain. I just sewed the fabric directly onto the board. I used fabric from one of Joey’s old shirts to fashion a pocket to hold the utensils. To keep the glasses and plates in place, I sewed elastic strips. I also attached a ribbon to tie the blanket with.
Because I didn’t measure the poster board accurately, the seams had some unattractive gaps. I covered those gaps with some blue ribbon.
I was initially a little worried about the durability of the elastic to keep the table settings in place, but the plates and utensils are all from Goodwill and the glasses are from Ikea, so it’s not a big deal if they break.
Now I just need some good weather.
