Compromises, completions and... caprice?

After several days of pinning, re-pinning, sewing things on backwards, ripping them out and sewing them back on again, the dress is finished. In a sense.
Have you ever taken something apart and put it back together again, or purchased cheap furniture that you assembled yourself? If so, then you are at least familiar with the possibility of that deflating feeling of (re-)assembling something and noticing a small pile of leftover screws.
Where did you go wrong? Everything seemed to make sense at the time, and you even followed the directions. All in all, it seems to be working, so why is Dread gripping its cold hand around your stomach? You should be happy that the project is complete, but every time you warily pass that TV stand or gingerly lower yourself to that chair, you'll wonder if this is the time you'll learn exactly what those three 5/8" bolts were for.
Do you remember the dress I was planning to make?

"I'm combining all three views to get a dress with non-spaghetti straps, a waist tie, shorter skirt and contrasting hem"

Well, this is the dress I ended up making:

Not too shabby! But I completely forgot to add the waist tie, which means I have no buffer to correct the slightly-too-big bodice. I made this mistake shortly after the progress shown in my last post - the non-spaghetti strap dress isn't supposed to have a waist tie in this pattern, and I forgot to make the modification before sewing the whole thing together. Oops!
I may still make some further adjustments as the skirt came out a little long for my taste. My fancy Readers Digest guide probably has some tips for doing just that, but I'm a little too sad to backtrack right now. I'm happy that it's finished and I should be pleased that it even remotely looks like a dress, but as I usually do I approached this project with unrealistic expectations of quality. Rationally speaking, I know that if I keep sewing clothing I will get better at it and eventually learn to customize patterns to fit me exactly - but right now that idea is a bit overwhelming and I just need a break. I imagine my next projects will be along the lines of home decor and possibly purses/bags. I'm thinking an upholstered headboard (probably requiring very little actual sewing), curtains, a messenger bag and a duffle bag (with wheels and an extending handle if I get really ambitious on the design side). We'll see how far I get before Mike gets tired of eating cupcakes.