I'm looking for a screen for my pj and was just going to use two bits of blackout sewn together just wondering what the seam would look like with the picture on it

... and why is there a need for a seam?

If you must have a seam I'm quite certain it could be made nearly invisible. But you'd certainly want to enlist the services of someone with a sewing machine who knows how to use it. Some commercial screens are seamed and it has been demonstrated with screenshots in these forums the seam is basically undetectable while watching a movie. It gets lost in the "noise" of whatever image is being projected. Waves and buckles will show during pan scenes though so you want your screen to be as flat as possible. If you're a total perfectionist you may never be satisfied even with a really nicely done seam.

thanks for the info I will be getting the fabric store to sew it for me because i know i can't and don't wont to try.

Explain to them the end use. They can make a "flat" seam. Here's one place to check out the whole commercial screen seam thing.

How freakin big is you screen going to be. I bought 16'x9' of blackout cloth and eventually settled on a screen that is about 11'x5'

I have a contact that can get the big BO cloth if you need it let me know.

Would you mind sharing the contact information with the whole community?

I found the following site, I'm interested to see how their prices compare with your resource

http://www.diyprojectorscreen.com/

I bought some blackout cloth from this guy

I've ordered some from him before, but I ended up using it as... uh... blackout cloth. But now my projector is up and running so I ordered some more. He seems to have comparable prices. 30 bucks for a 5x9 piece shipped was good enough for me.

instead of sewing two pieces why not use glue? wouldnt it be less visible?

If you do koin two pieces,, always do it with a vertical seam,, all large prof screens are done that way,,, never horizontally

May I ask why this is so?

I'll guess.

1. Horizontal seams may intrinsically present more of a potential visual distraction due to simply being horizontal. At least to me it seems a horizontal seam presents more of a possiblility for "reflecting" a uniform aberration in that our eyes are horizontally placed and if you scan a large screen you rotate your head left to right so the line the seam stays right there at a fixed relation to your viewing position. Hmm . . . I'm struggling with formulating this description.
2. Usually a screen is wider than tall so it's a shorter seam.

That garbage spewed SJ's commercial screen has a horizontal seam.

So maybe are you trying to say that we generally scan the screen horizontally instead of top to bottom, so a horizontal seam would be more noticeable?

Yes and no. I think we're just kind of programmed more horizontally than vertically and that's part of it. Most likely I'm just ranting and truly saying nothing at all. My gut tells me - and more and more lately my gut is the single most important part of my body - a horizontal seam would more readily be noticed on average than a vertical one.

hehe, make the seam go diagonal...be original...hehe

Actually, I was considering cutting out little triangles, squares, and hexagons, and making a franken-screen

I know this is but I get a bit envious when I see peeps making a bat-cave (all blacked-out) viewing room and a custom painted screen with moveable black felt borders. The ultimate in DIY IMHO.

just a question, with the black borders do i just paint the borders of my blackout cloth? or is there special material to buy?

I have had pieces and bits for my outdoor screen and it went from blackout cloth to a piece of wood at bottom ,You could not tell that much but I do agree with the vert horz thing .your eyes are on each side and you can watch the left screen and right screen at same time but if it was vert. both eyes will see it all the time. Just kidding ,I never even thought about doing it horz. ,I don't think you wil see it once the movie is going as it will bleed into scenes. Just a good sew job as that is my next project to learn to sew .

I'm not sure what would be best for painting fabric. You could ask at a fabric store. The only concern I'd have is bleeding. You could mask off your viewing area and apply light, dusting coats of spray paint to avoid bleeding.