something all embroidery teachers need

Yesterday I received an order of The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion from a lovely lady who told me about the circumstances that resulted in her purchasing the book:

Last year I attended a course at [a patchwork shop], to do with hand-appliquéing designs. There were 3 left-handers out of 12 participants, and one had your book on left-handed embroidery. It was certainly a help on the course for some of the more complicated stitches [the teacher] encouraged us to use.

I’ve always enjoyed needlework, but it has very much been my hobby, not my consuming passion. Now I find needlework can strain the eyes, so have done little embroidery or cross-stitch in the past 10 years, finding patchwork easier to do. However I like to have “something on the go” so was pleased to see a book for left-handers.

Her comments raise a very interesting point: she found The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion a useful addition to the class she was taking. It seems that it made it easier for her to learn about the stitches that the teacher suggested that they could use, from a left-handed point of view.

Statistics suggest that 10-15% of all people are left-handed. It is therefore likely that we can extrapolate that to show that about 10-15% of embroiderers are also left-handed. Within an embroidery class, that usually means that from about one to three students are likely to be left-handed. (That’s my experience anyway.)

I’d therefore like to suggest:

• If you are a needlework teacher where your class might include any sort of embroidery, PLEASE supply at least one copy of “The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion” for the left-handed stitchers to use within the class. They will love you for it.
• If you are the shop owner of a shop where needlework classes take place, PLEASE supply at least one copy of “The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion” for the left-handed stitchers to use within the class. They will love you for it. And make sure you have enough on hand to sell to each of the left-handers in the class. You’ll find that when they try the book, they’ll see the great benefit to owning their own copy!
• If you’re a left-hander, off to a new needlework class any time this year, please remember to take your copy of “The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion” with you. Chances are you will find it useful in the class, and even if not, other lefties in the class are still likely to find it interesting.

With such a useful left-handed embroidery reference book available now, the nicest thing you can do for left-handed embroiderers is have it available for them.

If you received a copy of any of my books as a Christmas present, or have recently treated yourself to a copy, I’d love to hear what you think of them.