Log inSign upLog inSign up You can also find more resources in our Help Center.Select a categorySomething is confusingSomething is brokenI have a suggestionOther feedbackWhat is your email?What is 1 + 3? Study anywhere with the Quizlet mobile app. Get it here. Interior Design Glossary of Terms (Isha)Thanks for the camera tips from yesterday.  Hopefully my camera will be fixed right away. But today…….we need to chat about sewing with vinyl.  Do you remember the jewelry holder I made, here?  I mentioned that sometimes it’s hard to sew with the vinyl because it sticks.  And then I was given the best tip……..and had to share. (Thanks so much Carol!) …….and sew up my scrap vinyl pieces, into something useful. And then realized making your own for your kids in school would be so fun. You could really customize them.  And make them for whatever little thing you want to fill them with. Or you know, fill them with stuff that you want to keep together. 

Whatever you fill them with, having a clear case is always convenient. And now, with a little trick unveiled……sewing with vinyl isn’t so tricky.  First of all, I have mentioned in other vinyl sewing projects, that placing tissue paper between the presser foot and the fabric keeps the presser foot from sticking to the vinyl.  But it’s hard to see where you’re sewing when you do that.  Then I told you that I use my hands to kind of pull the vinyl along most of the time.  And that helps too.  But, a reader (Carol!) sent me a link to her post here, where she explains a great tip.  And I love her for sharing! And the tip…………is scotch tape.  I placed some all along the bottom of the presser foot…..but left a gap where the needle goes through.  (And I’m not sure if it made a difference…..but I had some matte-finish scotch tape.  I figured that made it extra non-sticky.) And then I realized it helped a bit more……to place a bit more tape along the bottom plate of the sewing machine…..right next to the feed dogs (those pokey lines of metal), but not covering them. 

It just helps the vinyl glide on through and not stick to the metal plate either. If that was all the advice you needed…….stop here. If you’d like to see how to make some really basic pouches…..read on. To make the zippered pouch, I cut two pieces of vinyl that were 9 x 5.5 inches. **I bought the clear vinyl at Joann’s.  It comes on big rolls and you cut it by the yard. Ask your fabric store employee if you’ve never seen it before. Then I attached a zipper in between the two, just like the zippered pouch tutorial here……just without added the lining pieces.  (Oh, and I added scotch tape to my zipper foot too.) Then, before sewing the pouch together, I added some ric-rac to the front.  And yep, the vinyl slid right along. And then I added some buttons to the front.  I attached them using my sewing machine (shown here)……and used the method of keeping the buttons in place with a little scotch tape, that several of you mentioned back at that post. 

Thanks…..worked like a charm! Then I pulled the tape right off.  kresta curtains canberraLoved thatscotch tape trick.silver lining curtains banbury Here’s the front of the pouch….all decorated.acoustic curtains gearslutz Then I finished off the pouch, like the tutorial mentioned above………and used a 1/4 inch seam allowance.blackout curtains st albans And then trimmed the 2 bottom corners. Then turned it right side out, poked out the corners (carefully) and then pressed the seams flat with my fingers. Then I filled it up. The smaller little pouches are even easier……and don’t have zippers, in case they scare you. 

(Which they really shouldn’t……I’ll show you one of these days.) Just start with a long rectangle piece (my bigger one is 4.5 x 13 inches and the smaller one is 4 x 11 inches).  Fold it into the size that you want and then add a piece of velcro to each end with your sewing machine…….. ……..so that when you secure it shut, the velcro pieces match up. Then open up that top flap again and sew all along the sides and top.  Use a decorative stitch or a double line.  Or keep it simple with a single line. I also added a letter to one pouch and a name to the other.  But you could always label the pouch with what you’re going to put inside.A simple little velcro pouch…..ready to be stuffed full. Hope the tip helps you too. Especially if sewing with vinyl has frustrated you in the past.Most people are quite clear what Old Masters are and where to find them: auction houses and imposing galleries – the natural home for works by the greatest and best recognised of painters.

It is an understandable view, yet the reality is slightly different. Such works can be found at antiques fairs, car-boot sales or even in your garage. Far more Old Masters exist than most of us imagine.There are thousands of them, works that have been mistakenly attributed to lesser artists or thought of as copies, or that have simply been ignored. Naked truth: The real portrait of Neil Gwynn, left, and, right, before restoration work revealed the crucial exposed breast With a little detective work – sometimes just with the naked eye – paintings thought to be by virtual unknowns can be found to be hugely significant. And, of course, their values transform accordingly.There are many ways in which the truth can be hidden. Perhaps they have been ‘overpainted’, or suffered from centuries of dirt. Then there are the ‘improvers’ who have added to, and amended, original works.I have spent 25 years learning how to spot what might lie beneath the surface but anyone can learn the basic techniques of the art detective.

And it certainly repays a little time and patience: the rewards can be substantial. One example is a 17th Century portrait I found at a country auction. When I first saw it, I just thought the subject was a strikingly beautiful woman in a low-cut dress, her left breast half-exposed. I liked the painting and bought it. But I noticed something odd. The drapery over the right breast didn’t match the dress. Could it have been added later?Restoration work removed this drapery to reveal the picture as it had been originally: the sitter’s right breast was fully exposed.It was a significant find. I already knew the portrait was by an artist from the studio of Sir Peter Lely, the painter to the English Court. Clued in: Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould are art detectives in BBC's series Fake Or Fortune? The fully exposed breast indicated that the woman was as close to the Monarchy as could be: specifically, to Charles II. A revealed breast, as Nell Gwynn proved in other portraits, was unwritten code for a Royal mistress.

This was the original version of the picture of Nell.My new series for BBC1 with Fiona Bruce uses some of these techniques. One of the main tricks is seeing through dirt. Removing layer after layer of discoloured varnish is the main way seemingly valueless works can be deemed historic finds. The late Labour MP Tony Banks bought a portrait of 18th Century statesman Henry Fox at auction at a knock-down price.The washed-out face was in a terrible state; it was miscatalogued as a copy of a Joshua Reynolds. After Tony had it cleaned, the Tate declared it a genuine Reynolds and valued it at close to £100,000.Dirt affects all paintings. Airborne, it permeates oil paint, over time turning it more and more yellow. One effect is to make a sitter in a portrait look older and less attractive. In centuries past, there were clumsy attempts to remove dirt. The Irish used potatoes, the English urine mixed with ashes and lavender oil.Not all dirt is natural, though. Some dirt that is cleaned off paintings has been ‘applied’ in an attempt to make them look old.

The main trick for spotting overpainting is to look at the cracks that occur naturally in oil paint over time A way to test how an old painting might once have looked is to hold a white piece of paper next to it. Some part of the picture would probably at some point have been white, say, a ruff on a collar. Imagine that, or the whites of the eyes, as the same colour of the paper. Then you might be able to imagine the painting as it would have originally been.I’ve seen a Gainsborough that had hung for years in a room often full of cigar smoke. I’ve seen food on paintings, and flecks of wine. I’ve seen a significant portrait in a major English public school that has been used for target practice and obscured with dried mashed potato and gravy.After dirt, the biggest problem is overpainting. I can confidently say that virtually every old work in every major gallery in the world has had some paint added to it, even if only at its edges. Later generations may not have liked a double chin, a very large nose or naked private parts.

I’ve exposed a considerable amount of genitalia in my time.The main trick for spotting overpainting is to look at the cracks that occur naturally in oil paint over time. The resultant fine mosaic of cracks is called ‘craquelure’. What you are trying to spot is where the cracks disappear. Newer paint will have fewer cracks, or none.Also, if you know how the original artist painted, you will know their signature brush strokes. Look closely at a painting and you might see where those strokes change.It was in the 19th and early 20th Centuries that most overpainting was done, for reasons of prudery. It is likely that’s when our ‘Nell Gwynn’ was overpainted.Even artists of the calibre of Joshua Reynolds were commissioned to overpaint Old Masters. There is one tip I always give to those interested in knowing more about paintings: look at the back of them. A sort of reverence in the art world stops us from doing this, but what lies beneath is important.On the wood bars that form the stretcher at the back of the painting you can often see indicators as to who has owned a painting, how much it has sold for in the past and if and when it has been exhibited.

There could be anything written there and you’ll never know unless you have a look. For example, I sold a portrait of Charles II to the Queen after I found some ancient writing scribbled on the back of it. It said that the work had come from the ceiling of St George’s Hall, at Windsor Castle.There are high-tech means avail¬able to help us identify fakes, but the naked eye should not be discounted. It’s actually very difficult to fake age in paintings. It is harder to detect in the case of sculptures and ceramics. You should also look at the nails in a picture frame when trying to spot a fake. They should be hand-made and genuinely rusty, rather than dipped into a corrosive tank to make them look rusty.Fakes these days are often made in China. Such fakes can be detected by looking at the materials. Frames in Europe are made of carved wood or plaster, but in China of resin. European stretchers are distinguished by being made from oak or mahogany.The best art forgers build up paint layer by layer, as Titian and other Old Masters did.