I decided that the dress was indeed too short, and I realized I had done the feather and fan border wrong, and there were not enough garter rows at the end so the whole thing just rolled up… so I ripped out, reknit a few rows and voila:

So much better!!  The dress is still too big across the top, but I think I can knit a little cord and add it to the back for a design detail and to pull the sleeves in, then take it out when she grows.I love the malleability of knitting, to make it what you want, to undo and redo.  Truthfully, I’m not much of a perfectionist, and I see knitting as a way to improve that part of me.  I often tend to see things as “good enough” and not feel compelled to make them just right.  With the knitting, I push myself to do that, and am always pleasantly surprised  to be much happier that I did.