Egyptian Coptic Nalbinding

Here is the handout for a class I teach on Egyptian nalbinding.

Nalbinding is a technique for creating a stretchy fabric.  It predates knitting and seems to have been developed independently in various parts of the world.  It is most well-known in the Scandinavian context and the term 'nalbinding' is a Scandinavian word, but all the English equivalents are unwieldy so most English-speaking people keep using the term 'nalbinding'.  However, there seems to have been a strong tradition of nalbinding in Roman era and Post-Roman era Egypt as well.

Nalbinding creates a fabric by creating loops with yarn or thread.  The yarn is worked with a blunt sewing needle.  For wonderful instructions on many varieties of nalbinding, you can check out this site for instructions, videos, and all kinds of great reference material.

The socks from Egypt are mostly (but not all) worked in a stitch referred to as the "Coptic stitch".  The term Coptic has been used to refer to the Post-Roman era, which is the period of time between the end of Roman rule in Egypt (roughly 3rd century) and their conquest by the Muslims (7th century).  It can be a bit confusing because Coptic also refers to a sect of Christians based in Egypt.  We do not know if these socks were worn by Coptic Christians.  In fact, most were found in excavations at Greek colony cities in Egypt.

This handout is a collection of images I've found from various museums' digitized collections, followed by the illustrations I use in teaching people how to do the Egyptian style nalbinding.

Nalbound socks from Egypt