Vintage Suitcase Foot-Rest Tutorial

Some of you have asked that I post how I made my vintage suitcase foot-rest. 

Things you will need:

• Four feet for the foot-rest that includes embedded bolts
• Four nuts to fit bolts
• Fabric (how much will depend on the size of your suitcase)
• Wide ribbon
• Thick foam (I got mine at JoAnn’s Fabric)
• Stain or paint for feet
• Glue gun
• Electric knife
• Drill
• Plywood (optional)

Stain or paint your foot-rest feet. 

Drill four holes in the bottom of your suitcase where your feet will go.  Your feet should be placed equally distant from the sides of the suitcase.  If the bottom is not sturdy, you may have to reinforce it with a piece of plywood before adding the feet. 

Sorry for the blurriness but I hope you can see  where I have attached one foot and secured the bolt with a nut. 

Measure the top of the suitcase and cut your foam to fit with an electric knife.  (If you know the exact measurement of your suitcase, you can have JoAnn’s cut the foam to the exact size you need.) 

Cover your foam with fabric by hot gluing it to the foam. 

 

Place the fabric covered foam on top of the suitcase.  Use your ribbon to strap the two together by gluing the ends of your ribbon lengths to the bottom of  your suitcase. 

There you have it, a well-traveled foot-rest.

Gail

P.S.  If you have questions, please feel free to email me.