The sources of the technique of making woollen mittens and socks with a single bone needle are lost in the prehistory in Estonia. Nalbound or needlenetted articles, usually felted, lasted for a long time - they were thicker and warmer, in comparison to knitwear, and were not liable to unravel. According to the folk tradition: "In olden times the devil unstitched all mittens, but he hadn't a clue how to unstitch those."

The oldest museum specimens of this kind of mittens date from the eleventh century. From about two centuries later (in spite of another saying: "Knit mittens - lazy wife"), knitting - faster, simpler and enabling patterning - began taking over from needlework. People used needlenetted mittens less and less in daily life, and by the nineteenth century they had become simply an element at the rites of passage - wedding and funeral rituals. A mitten of that type was placed on the gift chest, or a pair of mittens in the coffin, in order to ward off evil.

In recent times, the nalbinding technique has been revived in Estonia: both professional artisans and laywomen use it as an interesting variation in equipping their families for winter.