Don't know if anyone else has seen this.

Walmart has velvet curtains here (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3267137) that measure 54" X 84". They are thin and will let light through so they are not good to put over windows.

However, I bought 16 of them and just got done tacking them up over every square inch of the room except the floor.

WOW! It is quite a difference. Even shining a very bright flashlight on the wall barely lights up the screen. I am going to buy a black rug to put on the floor and I will then truly have a bat cave.

Best part is the curtains are only $10 each. When they are against the wall and ceiling, you can't see through them.

Methinks this is a good cheap solution. How do you secure it to a ceiling?

I used dark blue thumbtacks from Home Depot. There is a billow effect but that's because I didn't use enough thumbtacks. I believe another member secured velvet to panels and screwed them into his ceiling. That's too much work for me.

This is a great solution for controlling ambient light.

I use "black flannelette" from Fabric Land up here in Canada. It's the same place we buy our blackout material from. I just finishing covering the ceiling, now I have to finish covering the side walls and masking the bottom just below the screen. I would like to have something like a curtain so I can attach a straight edge to the one inside edge and use them to move back and forth across my screen to change the masking for 16:9 vs 2.37:1 and the odd 4:3 material. I will check out this curtain idea. As far as attaching material, my basement room has somewhat ghetto 70's wood panel walls so I have been using a glue gun.

Would this material also be non sound absorbative? I dont want something to cut high frequencies in my room as I will have a more broadband solution that doesnt hit the highs only.

cpc, i don't think this would be good for masking the screen. it lets too much light through. You would be better off buying thicker velvet for masking the screen or attaching some of this to the "black flannelette" and attaching that to a dowel for a straight edge.

hifiaudio2 - i have no idea about the acoustic qualities of this. it is really thin and while I don't think it would absorb much sound, it will almost certainly have some adverse consequence. I plan on rerunning the auto eq in my Denon receiver when I get the carpet in to adjust for any differences in room acoustics.

Ok, well, I would need something curtain like to start with, and then I could attach something like flannelette to the back, or whatever flat (flat as in colour) black material I can to further darken and block out light.

Any Pics???

When they are against the wall and ceiling, you can't see through them.

Thanks for the info. Just to clarify - if I was to lay a piece of this over a board and glue it down flat, would I then be able to see through it at all and see any of the board's surface underneath when shining a light onto it?

when shining a bright light onto it, you would probably be able to see the board's surface.

I shined a very bright flashlight onto my wall and could only see the wall through the velvet in the center of the beam where it was most intense. Around the bright spot inthe center of the beam you could only see the velvet.

With my ceiling light on, you could not see through the velvet to the wall.

I'll check again tonight, girlfriend willing, and report back.

lovingdvd - on second thought, i don't know how the glue would interact with the velvet. I wouldn't want the glue to bleed through the fabric. At only $10, its worth it to just buy one and experiment.

When I was a teenager, my Mother told me, "You are an inexpensive date, not a cheap one. Remember the difference."

The difference is that you can buy good material inexpensively, rather than cheap material, expensive at the cost. Fabric mills sell their goods by the roll. A 54" wide roll can range from 50 to 90 yards or so, depending on the fabric and the mill. It sounds like a lot of material, but it can take 50 yards or more to do a 12'x12' room. When you buy by the roll, the cost is usually $1/yard, unless you want designer material or a blond tiger-skin pattern.

If you buy at WalMart or whatever, you are, as you can see, getting inferior material at a higher price. When you buy curtains, do the math. What is the cost/yard? You'd be surprised.

O.

lovingdvd - on second thought, i don't know how the glue would interact with the velvet. I wouldn't want the glue to bleed through the fabric. At only $10, its worth it to just buy one and experiment.
What are you using fabric glue for? Aleene (from Duncan) makes the best fabric glue--sold at craft websites. If you use glue spray, you don't have to worry about it coming through that--ick--cheap fabric.

Hi Oracle,

Lovingdvd asked a question about glueing it down.

How would one go about buying a roll directly from a fabric mill? The walmart stuff works out to about $2.81 a yard.


Thanks

Hi Oracle,
Lovingdvd asked a question about glueing it down.
How would one go about buying a roll directly from a fabric mill? The walmart stuff works out to about $2.81 a yard.
Thanks
I find the mill by finding out the manufacturer of the fabric I want. Call the vendor (Internet or store) and ask for the mfg.'s name. Google the fabric, or the name of the mfg./mill.

You're in the South? A lot of mills are there--Atlanta comes to mind--and they also have outlets, but I would buy a roll from the mfg. If you can go on site, often there are end-of-run rolls just sitting around. Price may be negotiable. The WalMart ad with the link here was less than $2, considering it's 54" wide and 2.67 yards. Here it's not the price, but the quality I question.

Do you have a resale license? You may need one if the mill is really fussy.

O.

Fabric mills sell their goods by the roll. A 54" wide roll can range from 50 to 90 yards or so, depending on the fabric and the mill. It sounds like a lot of material, but it can take 50 yards or more to do a 12'x12' room. When you buy by the roll, the cost is usually $1/yard, unless you want designer material or a blond tiger-skin pattern.Interesting. I took a trip down to the local fabric store to compare fabrics types and prices. Yards confuse me because of the different widths, so let's price by the square foot:

$0.08 Buy by the roll (52" wide @ $1/yd say)
$0.31 Walmart (ship to store)
$0.39 Walmart (10 piece, pay for ship since WA state is not "ship to store")
$0.53 Walmart (1 piece, pay for ship)
$0.77 Hancocks black felt (more like grey when held next to velvet)
$1.15 Hancocks Madonna velvet (65% Acetate, 35% Nylon)
$1.56 Hancocks microvelvet (100% polyester, didn't seem to be any blacker than Madonna)

Pretty easy to see how the fabric stores can regularly have 50% off sales and still stay in business :eek:

Brent

The WalMart ad with the link here was less than $2, considering it's 54" wide and 2.67 yards.I get more like $4.22 per 54" wide yard. $9.84/(84/12/3). Or 4X the nominal $1/yd roll cost. Is that math correct ?

Brent

:eek:
Brent

Boy, did that question disappear fast. Here's more. Get the business-to-business phone book for the nearest large city. For WA that may be LA. :hahahahaha:

On the bolts you saw at the fabric store, the mfg.s name should be on the end. If there's only a code, ask the sales clerk to look it up for you.
:bateyes,charmbirdsoutoftrees:

O.

p.s. As you have learned about fabric, if you can't make a buck with the leftover fabric on eBay, cheeze. Many mills are now partnering with China. Now that's low overhead.

I get more like $4.22 per 54" wide yard. $9.84/(84/12/3). Or 4X the nominal $1/yd roll cost. Is that math correct ?

Brent
84" = 8'
$10/8' = 1.25/ft x 3 = $3.75/yd

I can live with 4x. Did you divide the 8' or multiply it times 3? ;)

I was caculating based on square yards. Is fabric priced by length?

84" = 8'
Not where I come from :p

84" = 7'
$10/7' = $1.42 x3 => 4.28/yd

Brent

I bought a 50 yard roll awhile ago, had a nice weekend with scissors and a staple gun.

I already knew I wouldn't get my deposit back though seeing how I've drilled 10 speakers into the walls. :D

Chako,

How much was the roll? Where did you buy it?

Thanks,
Noah

Yeah, I am lazy. I should have shopped for cheaper but I didn't need all that much. My home theatre is a bedroom theatre so just under half the room minus the floor gets blacked out. I will post pics of my ghetto bedroom theatre one day.

o wow thnaks for the suggestion