Yesterday when I was cheeky enough to ask my local needlework shop why they didn’t have my new book in, during the conversation the shopowner asked me “Are you left-handed?” I replied that I am.
When she heard that The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion was due out in August, she asked why I can write the right-handed version when I am left-handed.
A good question.
And my answer to her was “Well, I’ve been teaching right-handers right-handed for years.”
I am extremely well versed in teaching right-handed stitchers how to stitch. And despite the fact that many right-handed teachers think it is ok to make the left-hander sit in front of them and copy them in reverse, I don’t think that is an acceptable way for me to teach right-handers.
When teaching right-handers, I switch my needle over to my right hand and show them how to do it in a right-handed way. I take a little longer, and I probably look a little awkward (it not being my natural way to stitch), but it certainly gets the job done!
No-one has ever questioned my ability to teach right-handers in a class, and about 90% of my students are right-handed, so most of my teaching practice is that way round!
I reckon that really, I have the best of both worlds, being able to teach embroidery in both a left-handed and right-handed way, thereby catering to all my students, whether in person or in a book.
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
My husband often teaches people to juggle, and left-handers are often closer to ambidextrous than right-handers. It’s a right-handed world, even for those who are young enough not to have been forced to learn to write right-handed. I think left handers probably have the best of it!