Ballerina ...begins

Hi, I'm almost done with the first front of my Ballerina and have a question about guage...my swatches on 3.25 and 3.00 mm needles yielded 26.5 and 27 sts over 10cms. I decided to use the 3.25 needles and knit the M/L size (the larger of the 2 in HF's instructions). My guage is now 25.5 sts so I must have loosened up since doing the swatches....I now wear a size 16 jacket, but hope to get back to a size 14 soon.... Question for anyone who's completed this sweater...did you knit to guage? and how was the final fit compared to HF's schematic? I'll continue on the 3.25 needles and hope the jacket fits in the end...Thx!