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The Sew What’s New Archive
This archived content is from Mary Wilkins’ sewing and
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From: Aimee S
Date: 11-12-2003, 02:48 PM (1 of 19)
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I was born left handed and was forced to change and I am now mostly right but I could use both. My oldest was born left but being that I went to the gulf my mother took care of him for 9 months and when I got back he was right handed. Now my problem my 7yr old is also Left handed. Here is my question. I have put in reversible zippers and his button the other way right over left instead of left over right for boys. Hubby says this is wrong and he needs to get used to a right handed world. I say make it easier for him to get dressed while he is young. Would you have found it easier or do you agree he needs to get used to a right handed world?? The more you disaprove, the more fun I am having!
http://photos.yahoo.com/aimeehs29 |
User: Aimee S
Member since: 02-23-2003 Total posts: 488 
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From: Pudge99
Date: 11-12-2003, 04:39 PM (2 of 19)
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I really think that buttons and zippers are more man or woman rather than right or left handed. If he only knew one way to button then that would be the easy way for him. Are you going to continue to make his clothes that way even into adulthood? If not then teach him to button the way the rest of the world does. Some things are quite obviously right or left handed like writing and playing sports and tying shoes is one that people don't notice. We Southpaws do it backwards from the rest of the world. Also with the button thing in the next few years kids will start to notice that he is wearing "girl pants" and no amount of explaining is gonna stop the kids from teasing. I know this from growing up wearing hand-me-downs from my brothers. I was wondering if you had a right handed girl would you change the buttons and zippers for her or are you just trying to make life easier for your little southpaw since so many things are designed for righties?
Gina
Pictures of my successes and failures Pfaff 2040 Janome Mylock 134D Singer Futura CE-100 w/ Autopunch Husqvarna Viking 3D Sketch |
User: Pudge99
Member since: 10-30-2001 Total posts: 1375 |
From: LeapFrog Libby
Date: 11-12-2003, 05:37 PM (3 of 19)
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Aimee, I would not change the buttons, because other kids will notice and then the teasing starts. Kids teasing can be so cruel.. The things he will need most -----Never to use a knife with a serrated edge----- They are only made for right hands... and also he will definitely need left handed scissors... you can even buy them in the beginner school kind , nowadays... I wish they had had such things when I was starting out..Unless he ever has a car with manual gears, he won't have any problems learning to drive. My father was a pro. truck driver and when he got ready to teach me to drive, he made me do co-ordinated exercises to strengthen my agility with my right hand. We had a straight drive car when I learned to drive.. If your son plays sports, be prepared.. Gloves and mitts for baseball always cost more for lefties...Didn't mean to get carried away...  
Sew With Love
Libby |
User: LeapFrog Libby
Member since: 05-01-2002 Total posts: 2022 
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From: sewingrandma
Date: 11-12-2003, 07:09 PM (4 of 19)
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My oldest is left handed. I never changed anything to make it easier for her. She learned to do things on her own. She even figured out how to use a spiral notebook so that the spiral wouldn't get in her way. I taught her to knit and crochet. She would sit in front of me and watch what I did and made the same moves as I did. I don't think there is anything that she hasn't tried that she hasn't been able to complete because she is a lefty. She keeps telling me that she is the only one in the family that is in her right mind.
Brockie
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User: sewingrandma
Member since: 03-06-2003 Total posts: 432 |
From: Pudge99
Date: 11-12-2003, 07:27 PM (5 of 19)
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Sewinggrandma, When I was in High School I wore a button that said "If the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left handed people are in their right minds!" Gina
Pictures of my successes and failures Pfaff 2040 Janome Mylock 134D Singer Futura CE-100 w/ Autopunch Husqvarna Viking 3D Sketch |
User: Pudge99
Member since: 10-30-2001 Total posts: 1375 |
From: kylefty
Date: 11-12-2003, 09:24 PM (6 of 19)
| I agree that he needs to get used to a right-handed world but things made for lefties are really great. I love my left-handed scissors. Serrated knives for lefties are rare but can be found. We use serrated knives where I work and I was always cutting toward myself, made people cringe. One day I came upon a lefty in our local Kroger store and I bought all that they had in stock. Sometimes we lefties need a little patience. It may take us a little longer but we do a good job when we get through the "translation". |
User: kylefty
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 33 |
From: MaryW
Date: 11-13-2003, 09:04 AM (7 of 19)
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My grandsons are left handed. Their clothing is all for right handed people. Not my idea, just how they were made. Buttons are not as bad as scissors to handle. My daughter is left handed, you should see how she irons. Makes me crazy watching her. LOL. MaryW
owner/editor of Sew Whats New |
User: MaryW
Member since: 06-23-2005 Total posts: 2542 
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From: Pudge99
Date: 11-13-2003, 09:39 AM (8 of 19)
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Mary, What is it that your daughter does wrong when she is ironing? I have a heck of a time ironing and I can't figure out why. Irons and ironing boards don't appear to need to be right and left handed as you should be able to just turn them around. None the less I never seem to be comfortable ironing. Gina
Pictures of my successes and failures Pfaff 2040 Janome Mylock 134D Singer Futura CE-100 w/ Autopunch Husqvarna Viking 3D Sketch |
User: Pudge99
Member since: 10-30-2001 Total posts: 1375 |
From: MaryW
Date: 11-13-2003, 10:22 AM (9 of 19)
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Nothing is wrong, just looks comical to me. She irons fast and she works from the wide end of the board. Looks funny to me.
MaryW
owner/editor of Sew Whats New |
User: MaryW
Member since: 06-23-2005 Total posts: 2542
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From: pbknudson
Date: 11-13-2003, 01:57 PM (10 of 19)
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I am left handed but use both hands for lots of things. When I grew up there was never anything for lefties so I learned to use most right handed things because that's all we had. I think the best thing to do is let kids do things however works best for them. Since you won't always be able to make clothes for him, I would make them as the pattern shows and let him learn ways to make it easy for himself. Too many adaptations can be a problem in the future when they may not be around. Kids are very adaptable.
Packrat
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User: pbknudson
Member since: 04-02-2003 Total posts: 20 |
From: Aimee S
Date: 11-13-2003, 02:47 PM (11 of 19)
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Thank you thank you thank you ALL I will take your advise. I guess the mother in me wants to make things easier for him. He can do the buttons but to do the zippers on his jacket he still cant do. I got a letter from his teacher to teach him to do the zipper. That is when I started putting the reversable zipper in his jackets to help him. The more you disaprove, the more fun I am having!
http://photos.yahoo.com/aimeehs29 |
User: Aimee S
Member since: 02-23-2003 Total posts: 488
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From: Magot
Date: 11-13-2003, 03:45 PM (12 of 19)
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You can get great left handed pens and triangular cross section pencisl that are great for the tripod grip. Make sure he sits well at a table and doesn't develop 'the hook'. Left handed scissors are fab and a real boon. But the trousers thing is a gender convention - I think you'll just have to teach him there. My brother was a forced right handed lefty, he still writes left handed, but uses a knife and fork right handed. He was quite proud of being ambidextrous! Try writing a sentance with the wrong hand and you geet a real insight into how hard the world can be. love and kisses, Jan
Guts-R-Us Cells a Speciality DNA to order. |
User: Magot
Member since: 12-22-2002 Total posts: 3626 
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From: kylefty
Date: 11-13-2003, 07:20 PM (13 of 19)
| My problem with ironing is with the cord. No matter what I do it always seems like it should be on the other side. I'm due for a new one and thought about a cordless. I had one many years ago but it wouldn't stay hot. Maybe they have improved. Any of you lefties have a good (affordable) one you can recommend? |
User: kylefty
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 33 |
From: pbknudson
Date: 11-14-2003, 09:25 AM (14 of 19)
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Aimee, If your son is having trouble with zippers, I think you did the perfect thing to give him a reversible zipper to help him learn. I would just start changing to regular zippers as he masters the reversible and grows out of his jackets. It can be very embarrassing to ask for help at school in front of peers and I think you were wonderful to help him learn by providing what we at school call a "modification." Your son is lucky to have such an awesome mom! Packrat
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User: pbknudson
Member since: 04-02-2003 Total posts: 20 |
From: maps
Date: 11-14-2003, 02:31 PM (15 of 19)
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awesome moms have awesome kids!!! all we can do for our kids, is our best!!! they'll love you for it even more as they grow up!!!
Marge
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User: maps
Member since: 06-18-2003 Total posts: 152 
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From: plrlegal
Date: 11-14-2003, 02:41 PM (16 of 19)
Left handed children are sometimes labeled as being dsylexic due to the fact that they have no problem understanding but have trouble putting it in a right handed format on paper. I know from experience as I am left handed. I was raised in a family of right handed brothers and sisters (8 sisters and 5 brothers). My mom, my oldest brother and I are the only 3 lefties in the bunch. In 7th grade my teacher flunked me in penmanship and told my mother I needed special education as he felt that I had a learning problem. What a weirdo. I am just left handed and couldn't draw all those stupid squiggly lines and circles in the right direction. So, the moral of the story is if you have a left handed child and a teacher gives you the song and dance about a learning disability, slap them as it is probably only because the child is left handed and the teacher is too stupid to realize that child writes in reverse of his right handed peers. I can sit down with any child that is left handed and is having trouble making their letters and show them in a matter of minutes how to do them correctly because I'm left handed and I had to learn the hard way. I also taught myself to knit and crochet by sitting in front of a mirror. If you take the illustrations shown for right handed crocheters and knitters and hold them in front of a mirror, you'll see the correct way to do it left handed. I also taught myself to write without writing backhanded I taught myself that early on to keep from getting hit across the hand with a ruler in grade school. Being left handed is kind of like looking at an applique pattern. Everything is reversed and your mind has to flip flop it so it turns out the right way.  Patsy Patsy
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User: plrlegal
Member since: 05-19-2001 Total posts: 318 |
From: LeapFrog Libby
Date: 11-15-2003, 08:43 PM (17 of 19)
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Gina and Kylefty, (and anyone else interested) About the iron, look at the cord and the way it is attached to the iron.. Does it come straight out of the iron? or does it come out of one side?? If it comes out of the side, then it is for a right handed person and you can fix it.. There has always been a way to take the cord off and reverse it to the other side.. My Dad did this for me back in the early 40's when Mom taught me to iron.. He bought me an iron for my own and showed me how to alter it.. Most of the ones you see nowadays have the cord coming straight out so there is no problem.. Now, to the writing problems, modern desks are the problem for lefties.. I learned to write at a desk and chair type that we had when i went to elementary school.. You just have to slant the paper the opposite way .. I keep my hand straight when I write..When my son went to college in 1979 , first thing he brought home to me was a left handed spiral notebook. The UNCC bookstore had them.. What a comfortable book that was to write in.. I had fought that uncomfortable spiral digging into my arm for so long... I learned to knit and crochet by looking at experts hands in a mirror.. But I still haven't ever seen a left handed serrated knife.. If any of you have a Co.. Name, that I could contact, I would love it.. NOW----- This is most important, If you have a leftie child or grandchild and you don't think they need special scissors, then cut out your next pattern with your left hand using your regular scissors and then let me know how it feels... That will be 'nuff said'.. Sew With Love
Libby |
User: LeapFrog Libby
Member since: 05-01-2002 Total posts: 2022
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From: kylefty
Date: 11-16-2003, 08:49 PM (18 of 19)
| Leapfrog Libby, thanks for the info on the irons. I looked this weekend but couldn't find a cordless. I'll look at the cord next time. The serrated knife that I got at Kroger is labeled Contoura Cutlery by Oneida. It is an 8 inch bread knife and the serrated edge faces to the left. I too have had the spiral notebooks for lefties, loved mine. I didn't have ink and pencil all over my hand after taking notes. The college bookstore is the only place I have seen them. |
User: kylefty
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 33 |
From: LeapFrog Libby
Date: 11-17-2003, 06:07 PM (19 of 19)
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Thanks, the next trip I make I'm going to shop at a Kroger's and try to find one.. Bi-lo bought all our Krogers here in my city.. I have to hop across state line to find a Kroger nowadays.. That is less than 20 miles south, so that is not too bad..
Sew With Love
Libby |
User: LeapFrog Libby
Member since: 05-01-2002 Total posts: 2022
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