How I Made My Own Wedding Guest Outfit

Back in October, I made my whole outfit for my brother’s wedding—dress, shawl, and bag—and I can already feel the details slipping from my brain, so I figured I’d write about it now while I still remember. And with wedding season upon us, it felt like an even better time to share, especially if you’ve got events coming up and are toying with the idea of making something for yourself.

A couple months before the wedding, I went shopping with my mom to try to find a dress in stores. What I thought was a simple request—a plain black dress—turned out to be harder than I thought. Everything either had too much going on, or it didn’t fit me right; I just wanted plain, black, flattering. I thought, how hard could it really be?

Had I ever sewn a dress before? Absolutely not. But I had a Janome Easy-to-Use sewing machine and a dream. So I started looking for patterns to see what was possible and watched this video tutorial by Kiana Bonollo before buying the whole PDF pattern on Etsy. The fact that it came with not only written directions but also an entire video walk through made it feel really attainable. 

Even though everyone that I told I was making my own dress looked at me with raised eyebrows and fear behind their eyes, I had faith. And what was born out of necessity ended up being one of the projects I’m most proud of.

Attempt #1 — Practice Run

Since I hadn’t ever worked with slippery fabrics such as satin and organza, let alone sewn an entire dress before, I knew I wanted to make a practice dress before working with the fabrics I would use for my actual dress. So I bought the cheapest satin and organza combo I could find at Joann’s and made the short version of the pattern so I’d only have to get a yard of each. 

I never ended up hemming this version, because it was always supposed to be just a practice, but it actually turned out great. The only issue with it was I couldn’t breathe a full breath of air, but other than that, great. I felt much more confident moving onto the black fabric

Attempt #2 — Almost There

For this attempt, I made the midi version and I used the exact fabrics recommended by the pattern: satin and liquid organza. I started making what I thought was going to be my real dress for the wedding, but compared to the practice dress it actually came out a little worse. 

This organza was slightly more difficult to work with than the other organza, for some reason, so it just ended up being a little sloppier. I also overcompensated for not being able to breathe in the last one and ended up with this one being a little gappy under the arms. It just overall wasn’t as flattering in the fit. And while I loved the movement and sort of bounce that the liquid organza had, I thought the shininess of it made it look a little cheap.

Here’s a look at the organza shell:

With just the hem left to go on this version and a bubbling feeling of disappointment, I went out to play darts with my friend. Between turns she caught me looking at chiffon fabrics on my phone and I explained to her the situation with my dress. And I explained how it did fit—better than anything I found in stores—but it just wasn’t perfect. Eventually, she helped convince me to try one more time.

Attempt #3 — The One

My friend knew I’d feel better if I absolutely nailed it and I’m so glad she did because I absolutely nailed it. I got some more satin and this time chiffon and began another midi version. This one I worked meticulously on, really took my time to ensure everything was perfect. With fabrics such as these with basically no stretch, trying to get it to fit tight enough in the chest so it’s not gapping but loose enough so I could still breathe was definitely a challenge. When I tell you this dress fit like a glove, I mean it was slightly loose before dinner and slightly tight after dinner. 

The switch from organza to chiffon made the dress look less like a cheap princess costume and more like a real dress that a real wedding guest would wear to a real wedding. The same friend that convinced me to make the third version saw the pictures from the wedding and asked if I ended up buying one from the store. And that might’ve been the best compliment I got.

The Shawl 

I am always cold, so I knew in order to wear a dress in October I would need a shawl of sorts. I was thinking something fuzzy, like mohair, but mohair makes me itch so I went with alpaca. I used Drops Brushed Alpaca Silk in a light gray (since I planned on silver accessories). I made this alongside the dresses, sewing during the day and knitting at night.

I just knit a long panel of stockinette stitch with 5.5mm needles. It created this airy, lacy kind of shawl, but the alpaca made it way warmer than it looked. I wished I had gotten one more skein so I could make it wrap around a little more, but I made it work with blocking. 

It did shed all over my dress all night, but otherwise, loved it.

The Bag

At this point, I had so much leftover fabric and no time to order anything online so I decided to make my own bag too. I followed this video tutorial, completely free sewing pattern. I used black leftover satin for the outside, black and white striped cotton fabric from an old dress I thrifted for the inner lining, and then stole some silver hardware from a bag I never used.

The little bucket bag shape was perfect for the look, in my opinion, and it inherently matched the dress perfectly since it was made from the same fabric. I thought the striped lining fabric was such a cute touch. If I were to make it again, I’d probably use some heavier batting since it was a little flimsier than I maybe hoped. But really, evening bags aren’t supposed to be that functional so i was happy with it.

Looking back, I’m incredibly proud of this outfit. I took an idea that felt like kind of a big reach and turned it into something real—a dress that fits me perfectly and feels like me. The truth is, half the battle of any big project is just believing you can do it. Once you get past that, the rest is just showing up and figuring it out step by step. And not giving up even if you really want to. So, maybe this is your sign that you’re more capable than you think—if you’re thinking about attempting something that feels out of your league, go for it.

(And yes I spent hours on my dress while my friend thrifted hers for $25 and got compliments all night. Do with that what you will.)