Vintage Suitcases...part two! Plus a little retro.

After posting about the vintage suitcases that I brought down from the attic, I got completely distracted from posting any more about them!

I wrote previously that the cases smelt musty, and that I didn't want that smell to get onto the fabrics I planned to put inside.
To combat the smell, I spread baking powder inside the bottom of each case. Problem was, Alfie decided he liked the taste of it...

He wasn't very happy that I shut him out of my room after this!

After leaving the baking powder in the cases for a few days, I vaccuumed it out (along with tiny fragments of paint/wood/paper from the previous contents of the cases!) 

There was a hole in the lining of one case:

I decided to snip off the rough edges, then found that the fabric had come unstuck from the base, so snipped that off...and snipped...until suddenly it looked like this...

Argh!

Of course, I couldn't put my fabrics straight onto that, and I'm too lazy to reline cases at the moment. Drawer liners to the rescue!

I popped some in all the cases to keep them smelling nice. The baking powder had taken the musty smell away, but nice smelling fabrics are more enjoyable to work with! 

In the case with the damaged lining, I also stuck in a little lavender sachet I made before Christmas, to give a little extra scented goodness!:

After all of that, the cases were ready for my fabric stash!

Originally my fabrics were stored in plastic boxes...

Large, easy to see into, quick to get at.

Except the lids of both boxes were broken (my fault for cramming so much in) and the full boxes getting heavier to pull from beneath the bed. 

Also, vintage suitcases look way cooler. 

I separated my fabrics into black & white, red & grey, gold & misc (with linings and interfacing). I have so much black fabric it's bordering on ridiculous. But I guess I'm all set for Halloween?!

These cases went nicely under my bed! 

Within my room I also have these retro lovelies:

The round black vanity case came from the charity shop. I got it cheap because it had some paint splashes on, most of which cleaned off. 

The green cases came from the loft - Dad was going to throw them away because the catches are rusty and the larger one has a little damage! I said 'Noooooo!' and spirited them up to my room, out of harm's way ;) 

As for what's inside...

More fabrics! This is my 'scraps box'!

In the vanity cases...

Fascinators! Mini hats! Mini crowns! Random other things! 

At one point I had a small obsession with making mini hats and mini crowns :)  One one of the mini hats in the picture wasn't made by me (it was made by Primark!)

After all the palaver with baking powder, I now have fabrics in nifty vintage cases. 

True, I can't see inside them now, as I could with the plastic boxes. 

But I have a solution! Come back tomorrow to see what it is :)