How much fabric is necessary for armchair, chair and sofa?

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80 cm fabric for dining chairs

I did not plan to write yet again about  finding the right fabric, or how to calculate the amount of fabric that is necessary to do an upholstery job. But today, when I finally went to buy our, I almost made a mistake.

For the sofa, I was convinced that we need 4 meter and just made the guy cut the fabric. For the silk fabric of the armchair, I also asked for 4 meter. Then however, just before the salesman started cutting, I made him stop. I asked him, what he thinks I would need for an armchair. His prompt answer was "6 meter".



While I was searching for a photo on my phone to show him our armchair, he was taking out some charts to show to me.


chart that indicates the right amount of meter for fabric needed for upholstery of all different kind of chairs, armchairs and sofas (.80 = 80 cm, 1 = 1m, 2.5 = 2.5 m ... / 1 inch = 2.45 cm / 1 yard = 91.44 cm)


I was totally impressed, once again, how well they are prepared and trained to serve the customers. He looked at the photos of my armchair. Actually, I only had looked at one - the one with the leftovers of the upholstery - a front picture - and never thought of the back. Now, I was looking at the second picture, where the wooden frame of the armchair was totally stripped off all upholstery. I realized I need fabric for the back too!


The salesmen looked with me through the charts and we agreed that probably 4.5 meter would be enough, but to be safe I bought 5 meter (the silk fabric is 100 cm wide only).


The calculation of fabric needed is the same as for tiles needed in a bathroom or kitchen. Almost. Because you need to take into consideration the width of the fabric you have chosen. If you need for one dining chair e.g. 70cm x 70 cm of fabric and the fabric is at least 140 cm wide, you get two chairs out of  70cm length. And you need only 2.10m for 6 chairs. Is the fabric less wide, you can get just one chair out of 70 cm length, and would need 1.40m for two chairs or 4.20m for 6 chairs. So I took 80 cm times our dining chairs.

A wider fabric might be more expensive, but if you need less fabric, you might end up cheaper.

You need more fabric than it seems when:
  • you choose a fabric with a bold pattern. You probably want the pattern in the middle for an aesthetic symmetric look. The excess fabric on the sides often is waste. 
  • you have chosen stripes. You have to determine in which way the stripes should run before calculating. The entire fabric cannot be used as it would require to change direction.
  • you want piping for your cushions
  • you want the seat covers of your dining chair removable for dry cleaning

For the excess fabric you can find new usage: small cocktail cushions for another sofa to repeat the pattern in the room, patchwork floor cushions, blankets, or funny tents over kids bed and the garden.


Finally, it is a good idea to get your fabrics weighted in case you need to take them by plane. My shopping prey today weighs 4.7 kg, already 1/4 of a 20 kg suitcase (allowance in Alitalia national economy class).

This is what I have learned so far. I am not an expert. If you have any other tips let us know!






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The Story of a Sofa

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And then their is this sofa.... It needs upholstery too (like the armchair and the 7 dining chairs). 

I do not really know what to say about that sofa. I do not even know exactly how we ended up with it. 

Some might say, what is wrong with this sofa? Why it needs a new fabric? It looks very elegant. - Yes, it does. And it fitted very nicely in the entrance of my mother-in-law's house in the Veneto, Northern Italy. The leopard print is absolutely her style and that's how she upholstered the sofa after having found it at her favorite antique dealer in Marghera some years ago. 


But one day, this sofa was in my house (well, also her son's house) thousands of miles further South in Calabria. 

My Italian in-laws are super generous. Whenever you say, you like something, the next day it is on your doorstep (if possible). So, you have to be careful what you say. But in case of the sofa,  no one said it would look nice in our entrance in Pizzo - not even did anyone say we like it. 

I think, what happened was that my mother-in-law just had found another sofa at her favorite antique dealer which suited her place better - and she wanted to rearrange the furniture in her house. I don't think that Angelo was transporting half of the household on the roof of his car all the way down to the South of Italy (11 hours drive from Venice), since there were some other pieces of furniture and household items that ended up in Calabria. Some were for my in-laws place down here. And some were for our house. Some don't match our taste at all. And some came in very handy actually. The rest we gradually return... The sofa just stayed.

It was clear from the beginning, that it does not fit in the living room. We placed it in the entrance, where people could sit down to put shoes on, or to pose their belongings while visiting. And if you look at it, its quiet cute, (seating space is 130cm / 52 inch). And if you look closer, it has two shells in-carved in the wooden frame. Beach Style! But the leopard print is definitely NOT going to stay! 

A new fabric needs to give the sofa a more modern look

A purple velvet would look elegant. But it is a summer house, and CC, my husband, did not want a warm fabric. 

Bold stripes, beach style? I was looking around at our local fabric outlet store. But I could not find any suitable stripes.

The entrance, where the sofa now is standing, we call "the Venetian Room", since Angelo had decided to paint the walls in Venetian red. And we have two Venetian paintings - guess where from? - From my mother-in-laws favorite antique shop in Marghera. Further, this room has not only red walls, it has a turquoise ceiling and a light blue walk through... complicated to explain, but it's a color folly.

In my earlier post, I told, how CC came fabric shopping with me. Just before the shop was closing, he passed by a grey fabric, that was displayed as a curtain. He stopped, and asked: "How about that?" - Yes, yes! I totally was with him. What a great idea. It neutralize and modernize the whole thing! It brings out the wooden frame, it reflects only colours we already have enough of - what a perfect solution. The fabric we have chosen, is not very thick, but it is a easy to handle polyester and therefor we get it at a super price too. It looks grey from far, but indeed it is a grey with a BLUE thread. Perfect!


I have photoshoped the sofa to visualize the greige upholstery.

The fabric is only 54 inches wide (137cm) and the sofa is 130cm long. 3 meter might be enough, but I am going to get 4 meter to be able to use it the other direction in case the material is too short.


Upholstery for an Armchair

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Or how much a husband can accelerate fabric shopping...

When I was looking for a fabric for the 7 chairs that need repair and upholstery, I also was thinking of how to upholster an old baroque armchair and a sofa.


The baroque arm chair we found at an antique shop in Vibo Valentia was actually a pair of armchairs. We did not choose the above one, but the one that was already stripped off the remaining upholstery. We were thinking of getting a bold fabric, maybe kind of Paul Smith like stripes and paint the wood with silver lacquer.  


I love to browse our Jim Thomson outlet for fabrics. And finally, I do really need fabrics for my own. (The last time I had the pleasure to bring 11 kg of JT fabric to my fashion designer friend in Beijing.) Now it was our turn! And CC wanted to join me after I already did an initial trip and brought lots of swatches home. 

Unfortunately, it was late Saturday and almost closing time. But no problem for my fast decision making husband. In only 40 (!) minutes we went through the whole shop (five floors) and found all the fabrics we needed! For 7 chairs, 1 armchair and 1 sofa. Wow.

I was happy - but also frustrated! How can he be so fast? Last time, I was there almost 2 hours, and no results ....  Well, that's why CC is probably the manager and not me. But I am in charge for the interior! ... He realized, once again, that he actually could be an interior designer - maybe next life.

And after all, it was team work ;-)  

I like my bunch of swatches, so colorful !

The top swatches are our favorites!

1) my pre-selected silk/linen mix for the dining chairs
2) CC's selected fabric for the chairs is 100% silk
3) a polyester greige (for the sofa)
3) a 100% silk fabric with orange, green, gold and turquoise threats for the arm chair


Our selection so far ... we need 13 m in total... so not such a big decision to make... and prices are great.... now I should stop blogging and start acting... in the car and to the shop!

International Herald Tribune: Expatriate Bloggers Chronicle Details of Home Renovation

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“Writers’ tales seem to impress audience with their exotic setting”
— Roxana Popescu
the paper edition

the paper edition

Our renovation and Palazzo Pizzo was featured in International Herald Tribune, the global edition of the New York Times! (I blogged about it here). The story about several home renovations (half page) was published in the Properties Section on Friday, May 4, 2012.

Here the extract about Palazzo Pizzo:

extract of the article

extract of the article

You can read the full story online at nytimes.com. Additionally to the online version, the printed paper edition of the IHT features also a "renovation blogroll" with some more expat bloggers who write about their renovation projects in Europe: 

The International Herald Tribune says about PalazzoPizzo.com :

The Crosetto family renovating a palazzo in Calabria, Italy. Lots of photographs and a detailed description of structural and aesthetic decision making.

(May 4, 2012)

My post about hardwood flooring - when I asked the readers to make suggestions - was mentioned in the story and can be found on this blog here:

How to lay the parquet - please advise and quote!

source: photo and scans by me / Palazzo Pizzo