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Right vs. Left hand survey

4/2/2014

10 Comments

 
Picture
Writing about that "right handed" sewing machine yesterday made me start thinking about lefties and righties.  

A friend of mine, the Goosemother, who has a sewing blog and pattern website, wrote in to say she's never been able to master left handed scissors. Which must mean she's left handed.  But then "Jen of OZ" wrote saying she is right handed, but posted this wonderful quote.

"If right handedness is determined by the development of the left side of the brain, does that mean that only left-handed people are in their right minds?"

SO, today I am going to be scientific. My physicist husband will approve.  I am going to conduct my first survey ... I've been wanting an excuse to do this.  There are several feature of the blog program I use that I've been wanting to try.

Left handed people make up 10% of the population, but four of the last seven commanders in chief -- President Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Gerald Ford are lefties.  Also, left handed people are more likely to go into the arts, which pay less, so lefties earn on average 10% less that right handed people ... grrrrr. 

More fun facts about left handed people can be found in this Huffington Post article.
I'm curious if the percentage of left handed people is greater than 10% among people who sew.

I would like all of you who sew to answer these questions. BOTH righties and lefties ... please.  It won't be scientific otherwise and I'll get grief from my husband, and you wouldn't want that!
THEN ... you can go to this website that has a little test to determine how dominant your left hand is over your right.  It only takes a minute, 30 seconds per hand.

Right-Left Test

I just did it and I only had a 3 point difference.  Even though I write and draft with my left hand, I do every other sewing operation with my right, ironing, hand sewing, cutting, etc. So, this test showed that I have pretty good coordination with my right hand.
Then, here is an interesting set of questions to determine which hand is dominant.

Left-handedness test
We all, of course, know in which hand we hold a pen, but how far does this bias extend throughout your body? Are you left-eared? Left eyed? Here is a simple test you can apply to yourself.

  1. Imagine the centre of your back is itching. Which hand do you scratch it with?
  2. Interlock your fingers. Which thumb is uppermost?
  3. Imagine you are applauding. Start clapping your hands. Which hand is uppermost?
  4. Wink at an imaginary friend straight in front of you. Which eye does the winking?
  5. Put your hands behind your back, one holding the other. Which hand is doing the holding?
  6. Someone in front of you is shouting but you cannot hear the words. Cup your ear to hear better. Which ear do you cup?
  7. Count to three on your fingers, using the forefinger of the other hand. Which forefinger do you use?
  8. Tilt your head over on to one shoulder. Which shoulder does it touch?
  9. Fixate a small distant object with your eyes and point directly at it with your forefinger. Now close one eye. Now change eyes. Which eye was open when the fingertip remained in line with the small object? (When the other eye, the non-dominant one, is open and the dominant eye is closed, the finger will appear to move to one side of the object.)
  10. Fold your arms. Which forearm is uppermost?
If you have always considered yourself to be right or left-handed you will probably now have discovered that your body is less than total in its devotion to its favoured side. If you are right-handed the chances are that you were not able to be 'right' 10 times.

I answered 8 of the 10 questions LEFT. So, even though I've trained myself to do sewing things with my right hand, I'm still basically a lefty.


Now how did you do on this test?

Thank you for indulging me.  I will share the results in a day or two.  


Hope Polldaddy works.
10 Comments
Gayle
4/1/2014 10:21:25 pm

I think the results of the dot test were skewed -- I am using a trackball mouse set up for right-hand use. I have never used the mouse with my left hand.

When I first got this mouse, even though I was skilled with my right hand on a traditional mouse, I had a bit of a learning curve to become adept with the trackball.

So while I believe I still would have been better with my right hand, I think the results might have been closer if the test could have been done with the keyboard arrows & space bar rather than the mouse.

It was interesting that the L/R answers to the questions came out at about 50/50. I couldn't answer #9 because my finger was a little left w/right eye and same amt right w/left eye. So my eyes are working together to put the finger at center.

Reply
Rebecca
4/2/2014 11:29:06 am

I agree about the mouse business...I never use my left hand to operate the mouse...so of course the left-handed score will be lower; on the other hand (pun intended) my husband, though right-handed, prefers to mouse left-handed!

Reply
nana
11/9/2015 02:44:57 pm

cool

sara
11/9/2015 02:45:49 pm

that is true but im a lefty

I'm amazing ?
5/21/2016 03:04:55 pm

Love your self

CraftAlchemy link
4/1/2014 10:26:11 pm

Fascinating topic, and I will be interested to see the results :)

All this confirmed that I am VERY right-handed. I do 9 out of 10 of the handedness indicators with my right hand and got a difference score of 20 on the click test.

Something I've found - notably with sewing, and when learning to swordfight, touch-type and drive - is that I have much better fine motor control with my left hand *when I am using my right hand as well*. My right leads and my left follows, as it were. They don't have to be doing identical things, just related ones.

Ask me to do something with just my left hand, though, and I don't get anywhere.

Reply
Karen
4/2/2014 01:35:07 am

Not surprisingly, my results were mixed. Every time I pick up a new skill I have to figure out which hand is most comfortable for me.

On the dot test, I scored higher with my non-dominant hand (left) because I exclusively mouse lefthanded. This allows me to click and write simultaneously.

I throw a bowling ball right-handed. I throw a softball left-handed. I bat right-handed. I play tennis left-handed. I can't do things equally well with either hand; there is a distinct handedness in every task. It just varies from task to task.

Reply
thegoosemother
4/2/2014 06:21:53 am

I like tests like these and I've taken them before (being singled out to take them because I am left-handed). However, after 60+ years, this is what I've noticed. Lefties are basically "forced" to conform in a right-handed world. Being considered a minority, our voices were rarely heard or given any heed. Right-handed people taught me to crochet. I started out with my left hand, but this was too confusing for the righties, so in order to teach me, I learned to crochet with my right hand. Baseball/(Batting/Pitching), same thing. Remember rotary phones? You had to dial right-handed. I knew someone who had a left-handed rotary phone and the righties complained LOUDLY when they had to utilize it. And, the mouse on the family computer is always on the right side (and workplace). Therefore, I believe what the tests prove is that the majority of lefties will be ambidextrous due to the heavy right-handed influence. Numbers for total left dominance should prove to be very low. "Proper" dining place settings (in this neck of the woods), the fork is on the left. One thing the righties got RIGHT. LOL. But grab the end of the table so you're not squished between two righties to avoid elbow fights. :D The Goose

Reply
Celia
4/3/2014 12:04:56 am

I'm a leftie, but always use my right hand for cutting, probably because I grew up using right-handed scissors. I can, if I concentrate a little, write legibly with my right hand. For hand sewing, I use my left hand. In tennis and Ping-Pong, I have two forehand swings, no backhand (yes, I switch the racket hand to hand, but I only play for fun anyway). All my life, I've learned things, including crafts and sports, from right-handed people and the only thing I simply could not "get" was bowling; I had to find another leftie to teach me that.

Reply
Liz link
4/7/2014 10:17:44 am

I am a "rightie" in the traditional sense of writing with my left hand, but I need my left hand to perform an entirely different set of tasks. My right hand usually does activities involving detailed tasks, like handsewing or painting. My left hand is stronger and performs all the strength/balancing activities, like holding things steady. On a sewing machine, I guide the fabric with my left hand while adjusting tension, etc. with my right. However, when threading a needle, I use my left eye to "aim," but I use my right hand to thread the needle. So I guess a mix. On the clicking left/right test with the dots, I had a difference of 9 (24 right, 15 left), making me a rightie, but during that last series of questions you posted, I answered leftie for all but 2! I guess my left/right handedness is task specific...

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    I am a commercial pattern maker who is now "sewing over 50"!
    I love to sew and hope to encourage others to come back to sewing.
    The water is fine!!

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