Sailor Dress - Pleats and Problems

I picked up two lovely, silky skeins of Think Bamboo midnight blue lace weight at Black Sheep a couple weeks ago and was inspired to make Chloe a sweet little sailor dress for this summer. I found a pattern I liked as a starting point over at Patons, but I wanted to make several changes for maximum class and cuteness -

• shorter, diaper-skimming skirt section
• inverted box pleats instead of knife pleats
• different cable pattern for the body
• sleeveless, with narrower shoulders
• i-cord collar edging instead of the back-flap collar
• matching i-cord edging around the armholes

I originally intended to leave narrow open spaces  (4 stitches wide) between my box pleats, and I did my stitch math accordingly. However, after working a few pleats that way, I decided I really didn't like the look, and switched to regular inverted box pleats. Stupidly, I completely failed to note that this would dramatically alter my final stitch count. I finished the pleating round and realized I was now working with a 16" waist instead of the 20.5" I was supposed to have. While I think I can get away with the waistband having this much negative ease, I really don't want it that tight through the chest.

Inverted box pleats - half done

So, rather than fiddle with too many increases and making it look baggy, I've chosen a light fingering weight white yarn I had in my stash already to do the cabled top portion of the dress. The gauge change will not be dramatic, but I'm hoping it will be enough to make the dress fit comfortably. If I have to rip this out entirely and start over, I may not finish it in time for her to wear on our trip to visit family this summer.