My First Dress Pattern

I made this adorable dress for Sunshine this weekend from a pattern I drafted myself. Oh my, I'm definitely NOT a professional! First of all, my pattern was made by tracing a dress that fits Sunshine just great. I have no idea why, but it ended up about 3 sizes too big (I bet pleats were invented by someone who screwed up just like me!). And jeepers creepers, folks, I totally forgot to wash the fabric before I cut it.

This bias tape (several packs of it) came in a bag from the thrift store (90 cents!), but aack! it is single-fold! So, being a novice at bias tape I ended up sewing it on backwards. Oh well, these days are full of learning experiences. So I hand-sewed all of the trim.

And the cute little heart on the pocket, too. Oh how I love applique! (This one is going to fray over time - on purpose - I thought it'd look fun with a fuzzy edge).

Oh, and I also put one of my custom (ok, home-printed) labels on it. See it right there on the outside of the dress? Can't tell, but it's a cAdamsCREATIONS label. (It's on the outside because I hate the feel of tags in my clothing. No, I'm not going to wear this, it's just the principle of the thing, ya know?)

She is just too cute, sporting that dress with a sock on. But hey, she put it on ALL BY HERSELF. So fashion or not, she wasn't taking it off!

So - what do you think? Should I make another one like this (with less mistakes) or go back to using some other pattern? I like the end result of this one (and hey, I made it so big she'll enjoy it for several YEARS!). But I also liked learning as I went along.

Let me hear from you. Is the fun of creating in the end result or in the journey for you?