Add an Extra Touch to Your Table With Sewn Utensil Holders

Dressing up your tables is an easy way to customize your reception and bring in your colors and wedding theme. These utensil holders are great to add a splash of color to your tablescape.

It’s really great when you are able to customize your wedding tablescape to fit in with your aesthetic and wedding theme. Sometimes it can seem like the options to decorate your table are limited, but really there are so many choices and possibilities! These DIY utensil holders, while not a necessity, are a great way to pull more color and design onto the wedding dinner table.

First, you’ll need to decide what material you’d like to use. I created both a paper and a fabric version, but I’ll go over the fabric instructions first. When selecting your colors and patterns, consider not only the look of your wedding overall, but also the hue of your tablecloth and other tabletop decorations. You don’t want your hard work to be too washed out by matching your cutlery holder to the tablecloth.

Next, cut your fabric. I found a rectangle that was 9.5 inches tall by 4.5 inches wide was a good size. I used pinking shears to cut my fabric, leaving me with a zigzag edge. This method allowed me to leave the fabric edges unfinished without fear that the cloth would unravel. You could opt to finish the edges straight, but that will require a little more effort.

The top piece that creates the pocket for utensils was 6 inches tall and 4.5 inches wide. I cut a front and back piece of the larger sized rectangle, and one piece of the small, top pocket. To ensure the zig-zag pattern lined up, I cut all layers at the same time.

For my top pocket fabric, I wanted a slightly more finished edge, so I ironed in a hem and sewed it down with a straight stitch across. Then I layered my bottom pieces wrong side to wrong side, and stacked my pocket piece on top. I sewed along the entire outside edge of my design using my sewing machine.

Then you’re done! It’s just that easy to make fabric utensil holders to add to your table decoration. It doesn’t take too much effort to do, and I’d imagine you could make an assembly line to make enough pockets for a small sized wedding.

If you don’t like the look of fabric, or you want something even easier, you can always use paper.

To make paper cutlery holders, cut your paper to the same size as above: one piece at 9.5” x 4.5” and another piece as 6” x 4.5”. Use an X-acto knife and ruler, or a paper cutter, to make sure you have even lines. I sewed along my edges with my sewing machine, similar to the fabric design, although you can always glue the edges or hand sew your big stitches with this design.

Regardless of whether you used fabric or paper, these utensil holders are a great way to add more color and design into your wedding. They’d look great placed on the table, but would also work for a buffet setting, where you have the napkins and utensils already separated out for each person.