Compass embroidery by Joanna aka Thingshandmade
I am a left-handed stitcher. And I assume that I'm not the only 'southpaw' that learns new stitches only from books and the internet. Many of the books and video tutorials show how to perform stitches for right handed stitchers. For some stitches I'm able to 'translate' the diagrams to my own left-handed version but it's not always easy. So I'm always delighted when I find publications especially for left-handed stitchers.
Last year Yvette Stanton released the Left-Handed Embroiderer's Companion
. An extensive stitch dictionary with a lot of stitches and photos of how to perform them. On the Sublime Stitching site you can find how-to's for lefties of a couple of the most basic stitches. And Feeling Stitchy's own Carina has not forgotten about us sinister handed stitchers either. Find her e-books for lefties here. If you already have a book with right-handed diagrams that you want to use, you can make your own left-handed version by scanning the image and flipping it horizontally in an image editing program (tip found here). I hope this post has been helpful for some of my fellow left-handed stitchers. If you have more tips for left-handed stitching please share them in the comments!
Awesome! I am a lefty and tend to struggle with right-handed tutorials. It took me forever to learn the french knot because I could only find "righty" instructions. Thank you for the how-tos!
ReplyDeleteI am also a lefty, but I always just follow the right handed instructions. I have often wondered if that means my stitches are all wrong. They still look nice, I think...I have no idea if they are "correct" though. I find that trying to follow the left handed instructions just messes me up.
ReplyDeleteScanning and flipping the instructions is a great idea (and so simple... why didn't I think of that?!). Some stitches are easy to follow and mentally reverse, but others are tricky. I also had issues with the french knot. ;) Thanks for the lefty info!
ReplyDeletevery helpful... thank you!! i have had a hard time translating a few stitches from right to left handed. great info i did not know about
ReplyDeleteI am not a lefty - but do have a left handed child - so always keen to find ways to help her. I am so right handed I find it very difficult to teach her - so these resources will be great - Thank you. Also love the compass pattern - any hints where it is from?
ReplyDelete