French Connection potato sack to fitted blouse with half slip

I have a confession: even as a person who does the vast majority of her shopping second hand (aside from underwear, socks, shoes, and some workout items), I have a hard time resisting the lure of fancy brand names that sometimes materialize at thrift shops.  Probably this has something to do with advertising, and my hereditary "get-a-bargain" gene, but it is also caused by the fact that fancy brand name articles usually have at least one drool-worthy aspect to them that blinds me to the otherwise unsuitable nature of the garment.  Enter the following potato sack by French Connection:

The fabric is this soft basket weave cotton that felt really luxurious and light to me (also, I liked the shape of the neckline).   I paid a couple bucks for this probably 4 years ago, and have occasionally worn it with a belt to counteract the general waist-less effect.  There was still way too much fabric around the waistline though.  Here it is with a fitted pattern intended for jersey (pattern made out of some salvaged fabric!):

Basically, I cut the dress off at the narrowest part of the pattern waist, and then pinned the bodice according to the jersey pattern pretending the gathering around the neckline wasn't there (my idea was that the lack of fabric stretch would be compensated for by the extra volume in the neck gather).  After sewing the bodice and removing a tad more volume with a dart down the center back I had a short blouse. I had intended to reattach the original skirt part by gathering it into the new smaller waist, but when I pinned it this way it was way too puffy (like a donut around my hips). Instead, I attached the bottom of a slip dress that I hadn't been wearing often.

 

I've worn this a couple of times already with high-waisted skirts over the top and have been really pleased with the comfort of the top and how the attached slip allows the real skirt to move freely (also, not having to worry about a short blouse coming untucked from the waistband of the skirt is nice).