In general, None of my books on textiles talk about klokkestrenger before the late 1800’s-early 1900’s (and really, much later!) when there was a resurgence of interest in handwork – weaving, embroidery, and Hulda Garborg’s promotion of bunad development. A Norwegian dictionary (see references) says the oldest preserved one is from the late 1800s, so not an old tradition.
The embroidery technique grows out of more detailed tapestry works that were adopted from Europe and became particularly popular in the 15-1600s, first in the wealthiest homes to cover traditionally cold, bare walls. The small size, faster-to-embroider coarse stitches of klokkestrenger eventually made them a popular item around the mid 20th century long after heavily decorated walls were no longer fashionable and houses weren’t as susceptible to the cold.
Often hung as a mini-tapestry, the addition of an attached bell may have been suggested by (primarily) the English use of decorated pulls to call servants (a bell hung on the other end of the line in servant’s quarters -see Downton Abbey:-), but decorating objects has been a common past-time of humans since pre-history. As such, the techniques, size, materials and socio-economic status of owners was highly subject to fads.
More geographically isolated than Sweden and Denmark – especially given the trade routes south more open to them, Norway shows a slower adoption of trends from Europe, often retaining old patterns while using more ‘modern’ materials such as colored yarns, gold threads, or silk, and use of cotton over traditional linen.
Common klokkestreng stitchery is also called ‘gobelin’, ‘klostersøm’, ‘satin stitch’, and is most often done in a geometric pattern. It derives from its likeness to the much finer and colorful gobelin tapestries that became the rage in up-scale households in the 1500s. There are dozens of tapestry stitches, all with the characteristic of covering a backing material. The klokkestreng uses just one of these styles, using an upright gobelin stitch which is worked on congress canvas over 1 vertical thread and 2 horizontal threads. It uses colored wool yarns, similar to traditional Norwegian sweater wools, not the finer, shiny (silk, polyester, etc.) embroidery yarns usually seen now. (Note: Scandinavians have traditionally preferred counted stitch embroidery over screen-printed patterns – although for uniformity, bunad materials are screened.) Patterns often include 8-pointed stars, rectangles, and staircase elements.
Per recent posts in Norway, it is no longer an active hobby pursuit but hasn’t entirely disappeared. See “http://www.klokkestreng.dk/historien.html“… My ambition is to reintroduce klokkestreng as a modern design element… Oprindelig var klokkestrengene for det meste broderede og hang i de velhavende hjem som kommunikationsforbindelse mellem herskab og tjenestefolk. Når man trak i klokkestrengen ringede en klokke et andet sted i huset, og den ønskede hjælp dukkede op. Senere fik klokkestrengen udelukkende dekorativ funktion. Kommunikationen blev til en fortælling i broderede ord og billeder om forskellige temaer som f.eks. udvalgte bygninger, planter, dyr, redskaber o.s.v. Ofte er klokken bevaret som et pyntende vedhæng på det nederste beslag.
