first of all, great lounging and pj pants. The difference in sewing back in the day and now is called You Tube along with lots of other places. to be honest other than fabric being wrong side out on one side, you did a good job. Along with you tube there are teachers like Peggy Seagers from Silhouttepatterns.com, she does weekly videos, she also has all of her web cast posted on her site so you can see everything she's done for the past couple of years. She's really great and Angela Wolf is also great; I'm starting a sew along with her now making my first pair of jeans. Both of these ladies have great fitting patterns as well. Craftsy.com is also great, they even have several free mini classes. Right now they are selling DVD's for the classes for a great price.
Have you thought about taking classes. Not sure what all you have in your part of VA but Tidewater sew n vac has great classes on sewing. I've actually been playing with the idea of teaching for them part time. I'm into quilting, embroidery, just getting back into garment sewing after a 20 yr break and things have changed so much. Good luck.