Introduction to Nailbinding

Discover Nalbinding: a loop manipulated textile technique traced back at least 8000 years and used to create knotless nets and looped bags, baskets and garments.

Begin by investigating the earliest origins of the technique and seeing how it develops across time and around the world, with some practical experiments to demonstrate the use of plant fibre before learning at least five different stitches and how they relate to each other using pure wool yarn. The stitches explored include simple looping (with variations), looping around a core (also known as Tybrind Vig stitch), Coptic stitch (Cross-knit looping), York (Coppergate) stitch and its variants, and the Oslo stitch.

Drawing inspiration from the idea of a bag of knowledge, participants will turn the sample stitches into a small sampler bag, then move on to thumb tensioned stitches such as Oslo stitch after lunch. After working your samples there is time set aside to revisit the stitches and to start a larger project such as a bag or a hat.

Take home your samples and in-progress piece, needles and a set of class notes as well as useful sundries such as stitch markers and placeholders.