Of Upper Tension Assemblies and a Few Small New Projects

I've finished a few smaller sewing projects lately besides doll clothes, and I've made most of these on the Remington. The more I use that machine, the more I love it! Unfortunately, there are a few parts on it that are a little if-y and I'm expecting to break or stop working any time. One of them is the upper tension assembly, and as predicted, it stopped working in the middle of a project. Thankfully, I had a backup plan.

To finish the project, I just took out the numbered dial, turned the spring around, and screwed the end back on. These little Singer 15 clones are wonderfully resilient and I was able to finish the project with nearly perfect tension. After the project was done, I switched it out with the tension assembly and side plate from it's new twin brother (I'll post about that one soon!) I'm either going to try to fix this tension assembly and put it back on, or get a new one if it's past all hope - and by new one, I mean trying to find another parts machine that I can salvage this piece from. I don't like putting aftermarket parts on these machines because I'll be getting plastic pieces, and I don't want to start putting plastic on these beautiful all-metal machines. :)

Now, on the the projects...

 The first one was a reversible checkbook cover. I don't remember where I got the idea - it could have been from looking at the plain blue plastic checkbook cover and thinking how nice a prettier one would be! I'll be putting together the tutorial pattern soon to sell on Etsy, so watch for another post just about this project!

 Another project along the same lines was a strap cover for my DSLR camera. Isn't this one so much prettier than the plain Canon DSLR strap? Like the checkbook cover, I'll be putting together the pattern soon to sell on Etsy, so watch for another post soon!

I made this small quilted tote as a last-minute birthday gift for a friend. I based it off a project from the quilting book "Start with Scraps", but made a few changes such as closing it with a snap instead of a button and buttonhole, and changed the size. This was a fun introduction to quilting, even though it was a really simple one - I just sandwiched the batting in between my quilted piece and my lining and quilted along all the seams of the quilted piece.