The Embroiderer Fritz Bierwirth

Men can also embroider excellently – that wasn’t new to me. Now this knowledge was reinforced by a visit from Fritz Bierwirth. He embroiders for up to 5 hours every day. And that at its best. He had some of his works with him. I was allowed to photograph these to share with you now.
But first things first: Born in 1940, he discovered his passion for handicrafts as a child. He spent much of his free time knitting and crocheting. He drove buses through many European countries for eight years before driving trams in Kassel until 1998.
After work he regularly picked up an embroidery needle. At first he was ashamed of his passion and made all handicraft utensils disappear as soon as a visitor announced himself.

He came to the Hardanger technique through tapestry embroidery.

But ever since he visited an exhibition of Schwalm whitework in the museum in Ziegenhain about 30 years ago, he became interested in this technique, which he taught himself.

From the first moment he was fascinated by Schwalm whitework, his enthusiasm has not left him to this day.

He often embroiders in white,

sometimes he uses subtle colors.

He had to stop embroidering for a few years. His eyesight was failing and caring for his wife, who had dementia, demanded his full attention. After her death and a successful eye operation, he likes to pick up the embroidery needle again. His hobby keeps him busy for several hours a day. He never gets bored.

In addition to the traditional outlines, he also likes to work openwork pattern borders into which he embroiders the motifs with needle-weaving stitches.

Back in 2002, he elaborately embroidered a baptismal dress made of the finest linen. This is shown in the 2004 exhibition catalog.
He can now look back on a large number of mostly elaborate embroideries.

At his daughter’s request, he also makes unusual pieces such as the large rabbit (pictured at the top) or the table runner adapted to the asymmetrical table.

He is currently working on a doily that he is embroidering in shades of green to match the furnishings. After many sizes of coton à broder threads were no longer available in his local store, he discovered straded cotton as a thread for Schwalm whitework. With the six individual strands of the twist, he can put together any thickness he wants. He likes to use 1-strand for the Cable stitches in openwork grids. This keeps the holes in the grid larger and the patterns stand out better. He twists several individual strands together before embroidering. This way everyone maintains the same tension and no loops form.