You've seen Beatrice before on this blog, modeling scarves patiently while I fiddle with angles, light, tripod, and a digital camera that needs a good spanking every once in a while, but I haven't gotten around to formally introducing her to you until now. It has come to my attention that Beatrice ought to have some shirts of her own* - she's smaller than I am, having belonged originally to my petite grandmother. My grandmother was a professional seamstress, and Mom thinks that Beatrice is the dressmakers form she used for her own personal sewing. If so, Beatrice spent many years as the fit model for tasteful shells, blouses, and jackets made with high-quality fabrics and clean, simple lines. Grandmother was a woman of dignified and elegant taste. Money was tight for a long time, but she could do things like cut and stitch a custom-fit and classically styled top that would last her for years out of a piece of velvet rescued from a remnant bin somewhere in LA's Fashion District.
I don't think my grandmother ever expected that one of her grandchildren would grow up to dye her hair loud colors and make clothi...er, things to wear...out of torn-up thrift shop finds. She loved it! Always encouraged my creativity, and declared my dark purple hair dye to be her favorite because it reminded her of irises (her favorite flower).
Am also fairly certain that my grandmother never envisioned her dressmakers form sporting such a...well, a...isn't that a lovely shade of green? That shirt, incidentally, was a gift to me from my sisters. I have worn it, in public even, but it's just not Beatrice's style.
p.s. thanks for the encouraging comments and emails - I think my grandmother would have agreed with you.
*"Oh, for &%$# sake. Get her something that fits, sweetie. You haven't been to Stylus in ages; now you have a reason other than finding something for yourself to replace those dishrags you insist on calling garments." (note from Viv)