Calculating leather requirements

[Chuck D]

I have a customer who is insisting on recovering a club chair in leather. Beyond small jobs I don't have a lot of experience with leather. First, am I getting into something real different than working with faux leathers? Is there an easy way to calculate how much leather I'll need? How much more labor is required with leather versus vinyls, twice as much, three times as much? Looking for any help you all can offer.

[ThrowMeAPillow]

most of the extra labor is figuring how much you need and the layout on the table.  there is SOME extra time at the bench and the sewing machine as you don't want to make a mistake (expensive) but MOST of the exta time is in figuring and layout.

double or triple the time for layout, I guess.  I used to cut the job in brown paper (cotton wrappers?) and then lay THAT on the hide.  Use flat wax chalk to mark on the hide face or even a crayon since the wax can be polished off.  hope that helps some.

[sofadoc]

Most hides range from 48-50 sq. ft. It is recommended that you order 18 sq. ft. of leather for every yard of fabric that you would normally get.
So. a normal sized hide is equalivent to just under 3 yards. Sounds like you would need 2 1/2-3 hides for a club chair.

[Chuck D]

Thank you guys for the comments, they are a tremendous help to me!

[stitcher_guy]

Sofadoc is right on with the equation. I get my leather from Miami Corp, Katzkin, and Coast to Coast. What I use is the auto grade and most of the time the hides are about the same. For headliners, you can request large hides and get them 55-58 sq feet (big cows).

Personally, we don't do a lot with leather. I'll show a customer all the choices in the faux lines and they are usually easily convinced. Every now and then there will be a customer who insists they can tell if they are sitting on leather or the faux, but I don'tn believe them. They are also the people who INSIST the sides of their seats are leather along with the faces (not). When a hide is going to cost them anywhere around the $400-$450 range, and the matching amount of vinyl is more like $75, it's a pretty easy sell. Now, the challenge to this rule is Ultraleather. It runs about the same amount as real leather. I like ultraleather, but feel that real is ultimately stronger and holds up better, but colors are usually nicer with the Ultraleather.

I really do enjoy sewing leather, even though a lot of people swear it off and don't want anything to do with it. It makes great looking French seams as opposed to vinyl, and nice leather has gorgeous strectching capabilities.