Little Lady

            I’m mentally kicking myself right now for not taking a picture of the state of the Dirty Room. While it may look like many stacks of boxes to the average person, the amount of space that has been cleared is impressive. (It also means that things are being found that can be taken into the main space – always a great thing!) Next week I will definitely do so.

            Not having Jennifer around has made things a bit difficult, because the Dirty Room pretty much requires two people. Luckily I do have a few stacks of smaller boxes that I can handle on my own until I figure out potentially reworking my schedule for when work-study students are available or some other system. I was expecting these smaller boxes to mostly hold accessories and textile pieces, but was very pleasantly shocked when we found a gorgeous girl’s dress all by itself in a box at the very bottom of a stack.

             

           Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the Dirty Room. But unfortunately I see a whole lot of ivory, cream, and/or white and sometimes it can get a little old. Sometimes I wonder if the Dirty Room is its own entity, though, because something colorful and in good condition always seems to come at just the right time. This little lady we found is from the early 1880s, and was worn by the donor’s mother when she was 8-9 or so. It’s so crazy, really, to see something around 130 years old just sitting in front of you with hardly a single imperfection (even her yarn-covered buttons are perfectly intact!)

            I don’t have a ton of time left to continue on my Dirty Room expedition, but I am determined to get as much done in there as possible. Currently we’re guessing that about half of the room has been looked through since the project started in the summer, so I estimate that we’ll be somewhere between two-thirds to three quarters of the way through when Co-Op is over. What I’m guessing will probably happen is that I will continue to volunteer when I can because, dangit, I wanna be there when it’s over!

            I’m really so happy I’m part of this process – it’s an adventure. :)