A printed paper sewing pattern is like a road map; the directions on getting from one place to another are all tantalizing provided, but it’s up to the reader to interpret and make sense of how to get from map point A - You Are Here, to map point B - Unfamiliar There.

A very useful upcycle sewing project is to take a classic women's button-down shirt and re-fashion into a new trendy shirt, one that may fit better, be more in line with contemporary fashion and satisfy a creative urge to transform something old into something new.

Instantly familiar, endlessly versatile, at once old and new, the fabric we know as denim and the many clothes, accessories, and home items it has so readily adapted to, has enjoyed steady popularity since the mid 1800s.

E-patterns or online sewing patterns are convenient for a home sewer, often offered free or low-cost. However, a small stack of standard size 8.5 by 11 inch computer printing paper, printing ink, a reliable home printer and much clear tape for assembling a printed e-pattern are cost considerations.

In an almost perfect marriage of practical function and elegant efficiency - the sewing machine and its machine sewing companion, the serger, combine to give the home sewer the best of all possible sewing worlds.

Applique designs, those smaller pieces of fabric overlaid onto a larger fabric background, are often seen on quilts however they can be used as whimsical decorations on clothing, elegant patterns on curtains or artistic expressions on throw pillows, totes and fabric purses.

The stiff, cuffed dungarees of the past used by cattlemen and miners, the 1950s and 60s youth subculture that adopted denim jeans in defiance, the bell-bottoms of the 70s and onto today’s boot-cut and skinny fashionably ripped jeans, these popular slacks experience never-ending fashion adjustments.

Unless the private unfettered view when looking out from a window is one of contemplative serenity - a serene pastoral scene, perhaps rippling waves at the edge of a pristine lake or of majestic snow-covered mountains, most windows benefit from some type of covering or enhancement.

Personalizing or claiming ownership of an item by an identifying mark has a long history with beginnings obscured in antiquity. Adding a monogram emblem originally was a way to claim an artwork, imprint a coin, identify an organization or guild, proclaim status, or certify a document’s authorship.

With the sun's advancing warmth as promise of impending springtime, fabrics sporting prints of softened blues, pinks and lavenders call to sewers at this time as much as new delightful bold geometric prints to help wake us from our recent winter languor. Try a few easy springtime sewing projects!