Phillip G. Samovar, a Santa Monica lawyer,...

Phillip G. Samovar, a Santa Monica lawyer, has joined the board of House of Fabrics Inc., the Sherman Oaks-based operator of the nation’s largest chain of retail fabric stores.

Samovar’s election filled a longstanding vacancy on the company’s board, which now has seven directors. Samovar, 49, was a House of Fabrics employee from 1970 to 1979, and held the positions of vice president, secretary, director and member of its executive committee.