Simplicity 2892 and DIY skinny pants

About the shirt:

Simplicity 2892

Grandma brought me a pattern and a whole treasure chest full of fabric scraps including a lovely blue material that ended up being enough to make a shirt out of! I loved the puffier sleeves, but I also loved the ruffled collar on the sleeveless shirts so I combined parts from a couple of shirts to get the look I wanted. I became horribly confused over the sewing instructions when finishing the collar, but I was determined to 'fake it 'till I made it', and with a little improvising it turned out just fine. I also wanted this shirt to be wearable through out my pregnancy so I added width, but I forgot to add length, and was left with a short, boxy, awfully unflattering top. I hadn't spent several days worth of nap times sewing this shirt just to abandon it at the end though, so I brainstormed and remembered a tutorial I had seen on the ruffles and stuff site for shirring. Seriously, shirring is a lot easier and faster than I anticipated! Tedious, yes, but easy. I like how it looks on the shirt and I'm glad it'll keep my shirt down under my belly where it belongs!Can't wait to wear it when I hit like 30 weeks pregnant!

About the DIY pants:
I didn't want to wear this top with jeans because I'd disappear into a blue blob, so I looked through my closet and pulled out these light corduroy pants that I purchased in the 7th grade and haven't worn much because, well, the flare is just too much. I remembered pinning something on my pinterest sewing board about making jeans into skinny jeans and when I saw how easy it is to do I transformed my corduroys in all of 15 minutes and before my little girl even woke up this morning! The tutorial is posted here on the lucky design blog and basically consists of laying a pair of skinny jeans down on top of baggy jeans (both inside out), drawing the new shape and sewing up a new seam. Just don't cut until you try on your pants and like the way they fit, I had to make adjustments a couple of times!

What this novice seamstress learned from this pattern: 
1. How these fantastic sleeves are created. They have a lining that is slightly shorter than the sleeve and so when the two ends were sewn together, the hem is pulled under in a delicate little poof. I am totally going to remember this technique for a future skirt.
2. A technique for creating the gathers in the front of the bodice without having to do pleats. This pattern suggested a line of long stitches within the seam allowance of the neckline. Give the ends a little tug and the top gathers just so. Mine is a bit off centered, I really ought to pay more attention to detail. I'm wondering if a similar gather would make for a cute, more fitted maternity top when sewn beneath the bust?