Left handed quilters

[quiltrn]

I think that I finally figured out what "part" of my "problem" is with getting the patterns down in my very left handed brain!!  I seem to want to go the opposite way and that is making it difficult to follow the patterns to practice.  I have the same problem when my husband wants me to help rake hay, it just doesn't seem "natural" to go the direction that needs to be done.  Anyone else out there have those issues when first starting out from the freehand side??  what helped, other than TONS of practice.  thanks and happy quilting.

[JustSewSimple]

When I taught school I always felt sorry for the lefties out there!  I can use both hands almost equally so it helped to teach them I think!  It is truly a right-handed world so I feel for you (I always thought my lefties were really smart)!

[witha'K'quilting]

my 12 year old son is a lefty, and he quilts just fine on both my machines. he just guides the machine with his left hand. needless to say he doesn't do intricate work, but doesn't have any trouble with freehanding. the switches are a little backwards for him, but he has compensated ok. generally, i am there with him when he quilts, and i stand on his right.  i haven't tried him on pantos, but would think that it would be just like reading, left to right. 

[Leigh]

I left handed and only had problem stopping without stitch reg it is great with one. I tend to quilt right to left

[mcmullen]

I am left handed and have a hard time following some patterns. I find I do much better freehanded and doing "my own thing". I also have a Lot of trouble tryin to make quilt tops. I took classes at one time-the instructor was great- but everything was backward to me. It takes me a long time to get everything straight in my mind when I am learning something new. Sometimes I can understand pattern photos if I turn the pattern/book upside down. Probably doesn't make sense but it works for me! Finally gave up trying to learn crochet and knitting.  Find whatever works for you!  Becky

[lkl]

I'm a lefty too, as is my DH.

Sometimes when trying to assemble something, we'll look at each other and wonder who writes these instructions. I was especially concerned before we set up my new machine. Fortunately the APQS instructions were very good and the pictures really helped make set a breeze. (Lefty loosey, righty tighty).

One issue I watch for if I stop in the middle of a panto row, that I start again moving forward. More times than I care to remember I will start again in the opposite direction.

Lefty Bonus- I can iron equally well using either hand.

[klwheeler]

I use both hands, but prefer the mouse left, and pen in right.  I do other things with left if right is hurting or not good. I think it is easier to be this way and not have the limitations of one hand over another.  When I was starting to write and draw, my Mom took my pencil away from my left hand and placed it in my right, saying it was best to be using it for school, and I really wanted to go to school, so I learned to use the right hand.  I used to get my hands mixed up terribly and she would say, which is your right hand?  I would look at both and not know.  She would point to a mole on top of my right hand and say, "See the mole, it is on your right hand."  Needless to say, I have not really worried about it much.  Rarely does someone ask me which is my right hand!

[Anne from Guam]

I am a lefty too. Funny thing is I like to do pantos from right to left and when I am on the other side of the machine I like to work left to right!

I think I'm so used to working things out in my brain to make it work for being left handed that I don't even realize that I am doing it.

I have always told my husband that I 'think' differently than most people...he just laughs and says That's why I love you!!!!

[Anne from Guam]

Karen -about not knowing which hand was right or left...same thing happened to me! Eventually I figured out that my left hand middle finger had a bump on the knuckle that touches the pencil and I would always touch my pointer finger to my middle finger to verify the bump. I still do it automatically every time I say the word left!

[quiltrn]

i am pretty much ambidextrous but for some reason following the patterns is killing me.  I can do the pantos well.  Maybe I should try the front side of the machine from the right though if I am in a block going from the right sometimes it still gets backwards.  my grandparents, according to Mom, would take things out of my left and try to get me to use my right more.  I used to scrub in surgery and the heart surgeon that I worked with made me learn to use my right hand for a lot of things.  when I first started I was always having to consciously  take the scissors out of my left into my right.  it is definitely a right handed world.

[ffq-lar]

I taught a left-handed friend how to knit and crochet by using the mirror method. We would sit face to face and she would mimic my movements as if she was looking in a mirror. I don't know if that's helpful since most tutorials and videos are from the instructors point of view.

If you're looking at drawn or printed designs, trace them on a piece of paper and turn over to re-draw them on the back. That will reverse the image and the stitching pathway and may be easier for the left-handed.

[klwheeler]

Oh and I can take two pens or pencils and write at the same time a mirror image HA!

[sewjul]

I am not a lefty, but left eye dominant. When I first got my machine I really tried to pantos from right to left, but just couldn't do it. 3 months I suffered. Then I tried it left to right, with great success. I attended an APQS road show near by and asked if this would hurt my machine. The team assured me I would be fine. I have been quilting for 3 years now, on the front of the machine from left to right for custom quilts, and on the back left to right for pantos with no problem.

I sometimes have to pay close attention with panto patterns regarding the direction of the design, but other that it has been smooth stitching!

[Aithne]

I am right handed, but seem to do a lot of my stitching like a leftie would.  I just figure it out so it's comfortable for me and I don't worry about how it's "supposed" to be done.  By the way if you hold up both of your hands with the thumbs running parallel to the ground and your fingers pointing up, the left hand makes an L.  My husband laughs every time I do it.

[Gail O]

Absolutely right-brained (left-handed). 

The right side of my body seems to be there for symmetry only.  It's had very little use to date, so if I learned to be right-handed for the second half of my life, it would be like starting with new parts.

[Anniquilter]

Alyn

 

Are you talking about stitching pantographs from the back or designs on the front?  I always understood there could be a stitch quality issue if stitching a pantograph from left to right but , given that pantograph designs have you stitching in every direction, I would imagine that, as long as you don't stitch too fast, working left to right would be OK.

 

As for working from the front,  I think Dawn Cavanagh, when talking about how to learn to do feathers, suggests practicing circles clockwise and anti clockwise.  Whichever way you can make the better circle is the best direction for you to work on feathers.  So, if you need to reverse a pattern to get the best stitch flow, go for it!

 

Don't forget - No Quilt Police!!  Just do what works best for you.....

[quiltrn]

Thanks Anne,

I do have the pantos down well it is the designs from the front.  I know, no quit police but.....

Thanks.  HAPPY QUILTING..

[dancingraisin]

^{Although I've had my Lucey for a year, I am just now getting her up and running.  (I should comment on the working ft and quilting thread.)  On the orientation video, Dawn Cavanaugh comments that righties need to remeber to reverse certain operations since Dawn is a leftie.  As I watched it yesterday, I knew I had to add it to this thread.}

[dancingraisin]

CDoes anyone understand why my posts are so tiny even though I have my font size set at 12?