Interview w/ Dirty Bird Threads

“I always repaired blown-out butts and crotches from our guy friends that skateboarded. Eric Marzinco gave me his whole wardrobe once, and I never sewed anything from it. I was in a sewing slump. I probably still have them. I know I do, they’re up in my closet. He hates me now. I should do them all now, and give them to him for his birthday.” KS







Dirty Bird Threads…a.k.a. Kerry Sawicki and Lorraine Carrig

Sitting across the kitchen table from me, Kerry gives me half thoughts and tangent answers to my questions, as she diligently places a large peace sign for a new, Dirty Bird t-shirt. This calm atmosphere is a little different from 2 months ago, when she and Lorraine were blood-shot eyed, and on the verge of developing Carpel Tunnel Syndrome; a last minute fashion show had afforded them no extra time, nor room to crank out a Dirty Bird line. Clothes camouflaged the living room, along with fabrics, threads, elastics, scissors, sewing machines, labels, and “oooow!”, some crazy hair-dos. At anyrate, due to an undeniable demand for a one of kind, embroidered Dirty Bird Thread, Kerry and Lorraine have since come up with a more efficient way of doing things.

MM: Describe the workmanship behind Dirty Bird Threads?

KS: “A sweatshop. We buckle down in Nan’s old room, when we have a deadline; put everything aside. We need more motivation like that (referring to the fashion show). It is really organized though (the walk-in closet in Nan’s room), with fabrics stacked to the ceiling. Very colorful.

MM: About how many pieces of clothing do you girls put out each week or month?

KS: Between personal and worklives….what time is left. It’s like when you get inspired. That’s when I really get shit done. We are working on making at least 100 pieces for a line. And screenprinting for the guys stuff.

MM: What is your work-life?

KS: Boat Maintenance. Interior/ exterior, woodwork, varnishing, etc.

MM: Describe the process of making a signature Dirty Bird Thread.

KS: We focus on patchwork for t-shirts. Designs. Embroidery. Sewing. It is long and tedious. Just takes a long time. Everything is 50/50. Whether it’s her or my idea. We’re just one; we both love each other’s ideas and things.

MM: Have you gotten faster.

KS: Yeah! Once you get a couple of designs, and can make a pttern- then you can get on a roll. Cutting a bunch of patterns and stencils before sewing them on the shirts really cuts time. But it’s all fun.
I’m thinking about getting some more people for the sweatshop- hiring people- give them a design, and have them cut it out.

MM: Do you remember a moment, or a piece, when you thought, “Hey I’m actually really good at this.” ?

KS: Highschool, Mrs. Pringle’s sewing class is where it took off. I had ripped up an old western button down shirt, and made it into a tank top. The teacher saved it and showed it to everyone.

One of my favorites though, is a dress I made out of a long pillowcase-pink- Everyone is like, “you made that? That’s a pillow case?”…. I don’t know, I just like being resourceful, you can recycle things, ya know?

I always repaired blown-out butts and crotches from our guy friends that skateboarded. Eric Marzinco gave me his whole wardrobe once, and I never sewed anything from it. I was in a sewing slump. I probably still have them. I know I do, they’re up in my closet. He hates me now. I should do them all now, and give them to him for his birthday.

MM: What are you making now?

KS: I’m makin a Dirty Bird Peace shirt. It’s a huge peace sign, with different patches of fabric.

MM: Inspirations?

KS: Morgan. You brought back the whole Heart of Dirtona, which triggered the Dirtona shirts….and then realized every city has a nickname that represents the city, like Sledge Water. It’s a cool kind of thing to represent where you are from.

I always had some sketches. One of our main things is looking at something ordinary, and seeing we can make something like that, but with patches- patchwork is one of our signature things.

“I really wish my partner was here- You wouldn’t happen to be able to do a quick interview with her, would you?” (I said yes, but thought it to be unnecessary in the end).

Picking back up with inspirations….

Bright colors, environment, surroundings. It just kind of comes- past styles- just kind of bring them back, but in a different way. Each piece is original and different. Ya know, it’s just special because they aren’t all alike. “Mass” produced, but hand sewn_ not corporate.

We got a lot of ideas from our road trip we were on, seeing different parts of the country.
Friends. For instance, the “Squid Shirt” (after Crystal- whose house we were currently at); Sean Davis- “The Freak of Nature”- (she tries to describe it too me, as slow as fast as my hand can write) big foot on skateboard, glasses, beard profile. We do custom stuff, if you want a piece personalized.

MM: What do you have in mind for guy’s clothing?

KS: Printed tees for guys. Just got textile paint. It’s like a screen-print but with airbrush. I personalize things on jackets too. We really want to expand on the guys.

MM: How long is the sewing session today?

KS: A typical t-shirt takes at least 4 hours. People won’t realize it. It’s hard to make a price. We want to be affordable, because we sure don’t have that money. We have an idea (about prices)- we are just hoping people are willing to pay and understand. If you like it, you like it, and is going to be worth buying it.

MM: Contact, ordering, how is this handled?

KS: E-mail. We are working on the dot-com thing.
- dirtonadirtybirds@gmail.com