Relearning the Basics of Sewing -- How to hold a needle

I have acquired the skill to sew not long after I first held a pencil to draw. The 'running stitch' was the first stitch I taught myself long before I knew it was called the 'running stitch'. Sewing was something that came very natural to me, maybe it had to do with my mother who was a sewing enthusiast. I was always fascinated by the vintage sewing machine that she owned, which had a drawer that contained assorted needles, pins, thread, thimbles, dressmaker shears, thread scissors, tracing wheel, bias tape, tape measure... --- lots of things that I only recently discovered the names to. It didn't take me long to start taking things out of the drawer and using mother's (and grandma's!) secret fabric stash to make dresses for my Barbie dolls!

Alas, maybe this very natural skill needs some fine-tuning if I want to take sewing more seriously.

I've been reading some forum posts to better my sewing skills. Much to my embarrassment, I discovered that don't actually know how to sew properly (as I didn't learnt the proper way!). So, ego aside, I shall learn how to sew properly.

Learning to sew with a THIMBLE

I've read a couple of posts and the professionals all insist to use a thimble when hand-sewing. Apparently it greatly increases the speed of hand-sewing once you get the hang of it.

After hours of sewing, my fingers will be bleeding not only from being pricked by the front but mostly from the back of the needle! : ( The picture above is an example of a dressmaker's thimble which I own and loathed using because it feels very unnatural on my finger.

The forums suggested to ditch the dressmaker's thimble and to use a tailor's thimble. (pictured below)

The difference between this and a dressmaker's thimble is that it's open ended. Speaking of open ended thimbles, another one comes to mind: the Japanese thimble I've read about in John Marshall's How to Make Your Own Japanese Clothes (pictured below). The thimble is made of leather or remnants of silk cloth used to make the kimono.

The right way to hold a needle is apparently the way which it's most natural to sew with a thimble, as I've found out in this tutorial.

The right way to sew will look something like this video (1:37 - 2:00 into the youtube). Sewing towards oneself, rather than away.

Note to self: must get use to using a thimble, also, to get an open ended thimble!