Do you think there are left handed sewing machines?

[psychuan@plush.city]

@vulgalour you piqued my interest, so i went and had a look and it turns out... sewing machines are left handed! or at least their initial design is. the initial ones had to be hand cranked, and that required less dexterity than like. threading the needles, or guiding the fabric, etc. so they shaped 'em like that.

[glowl@chaos.social]

@PsyChuan @vulgalour i would say its a bit like playing guitar. you need both hands anyways, and most probably get used to it when learning and then can use any machine/guitar around.

[deirdrebeth@mas.to]

@vulgalour

I've never run across one, but I imagine a 1%er with a well loved left handed child could have had one built.

Remember though, we're barely 50 years past when left handed children were physically punished until they trained themselves to be right handed.

[funkster@mastodon.art]

@vulgalour My bandsaw is left handed, not because of my own dominant hand but because of where it was destined to sit in my workshop.

[vulgalour@birdbutt.com]

@PsyChuan oh actually yeah, that's true. I've had a hand crank one years and years ago, and hated it because it was so hard to control solo. I think of sewing machines as being right-handed because the stuff you adjust is all on the right, but really they are left-handed since the majority of work guiding etc. is done by the left hand.

So are there machines the other way around?

[janwuppertal@nrw.social]

@vulgalour I‘m lefthanded and I have no problems with a „conventional“ sewing machine. I think that it is actually very easy and ergonomic to use and I do have wondered before why someone (probably righthanded) built the first sewing machine this way and not the other way round.

[rickd6@mstdn.ca]

@janwuppertal @vulgalour as a left handed person I’ve noticed that we often adapt to ‘what is’ very quickly rather than trying to change it. In fact when some things are changed they can be more difficult to use (left handed scissors). It would be interesting to try living in a place where all things were designed for lefties, but it would take some effort to get used to it.

[milla@mastodon.art]

@janwuppertal @vulgalour my guess would be because in hand sewing, the bulk of the fabric is on the left side and being handled by the left hand, while the right side is more empty to allow needle movement. You'd also keep your needles and scissors and stuff on the right. So the same orientation translated to the sewing machines, only difference being that the right hand doesn't hold the needle anymore.

[vulgalour@birdbutt.com]

@milla @janwuppertal Oo, I like that theory, that makes a lot of sense. You'd want the machine to mimic the pre-machine method for ease of transition.

[sewblue@sfba.social]

@vulgalour Very very early hand crank machines had no openings to the right. With a hand crank they would have been next to impossible for a right handed person to use well.

The early development of a treadle and a longer arm were essentially adaptations for right handed people.

[milla@mastodon.art]

@janwuppertal @vulgalour There are also some early or specialized sewing machines that you operate by standing at the end, and the machine sews right to left, like right-handed hand stitching. Check out this antique fur sewing machine with rotating feeds and a left hand crank: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/J3GW8P/the-fur-sewing-machine-dating-from-around-1900-was-designed-specifically-J3GW8P.jpg