Creating a cheap Ghillie suit

[Cyklops]

If your not willingly to spend money on buying an already made ghillie suit than perhaps this is for you....that is of course if your going to put many hours of work into this.

I just began creating my own ghillie suit (only the top half) and thought I'd share a few ideas and whatnot with the community so here it is.....

Materials:
-Netting (I used a black volley ball net which I already owned)
-Old hoodie (black, green, brown, etc)
OR
-BDU Jacket and Boonie hat
OR
-Plain black hockey jersey and black ski mask (what im using)
-Dental floss (much stronger than just regular thread)
-Needle
-Various colours of jute (go out and take not of colours in your playing environment!!!) and wool/yarn also works (you can buy a bundle of camo yarn for like $4.00 at Wal-mart) I plan on using both and buy lots! You can also rip up old t-shirts/pants with greens/browns/blacks, etc in long thin strips.

How to:

1) Lay whatever clothing your using out completely flat (hockey jersey in my case)

2) Than place the netting on the biggest area first (back or front) and cut a piece of netting to fit that area.

3) Sew down all four corners with dental floss and than continue on sewing the middle area of the netting. Don't worry about the white, once material is put on you won't be able to see it and make sure you don't sew the back and front of the shirt together, this happened to me and only causes frustration.

4) Once the entire shirt is covered in netting you can proceed by putting your material(s) of choice on (jute, yarn/wool, old t-shirts or whatever).

5) When putting the material on, tie 2 groups of 4 - 6 strands, about 10 inches in length to the netting with simple knots(start from the bottom of shirt first!!!!!) Try to stick to 3 or 4 colours that a re prevalent in your environment.

6) Once completed get it in the field and stick natural vegetation in it, roll around in the dirt, etc etc etc. Do whatever just to make it look more natural!

[sushicake]

30 inches isn't that a little long...

[Cyklops]

Originally Posted by sushicake

30 inches isn't that a little long...

Sorry I meant 10 inches. But really thats up to the person making it. Whatever you feel would work best and what material your using.

[R.I.T.Z]

Originally Posted by sushicake

30 inches isn't that a little long...

unless hes folding them, and then tying them

[Cyklops]

Originally Posted by R.I.T.Z

unless hes folding them, and then tying them

You can do that, whatever you want of course, but I actually meant to type 10 and not 30.

[Eldin]

I made mine using a similar method.



I tacked on 1/2" fish netting on the back, over the shoulders and on the upper chest area of a WW2 bdu, I then cut, dyed and frayed hundreds of 4" - 12" pieces of burlap from burlap sacks different earthy tones and sewed and tied them on to where the netting was located.

I proceeded to sew 2 large patches of burlap on the lower chest/belly area of the suit, and spray painted them earthy tones.

I then made a hood by cutting off an old hood from a hoodie, tacking netting onto it, and sewing burlap strips onto it. I then made a face veil out of 1" netting and attached it to my hood.

After it was mostly together, I sewed on more burlap strips to places that needed a more natural shape, for example the sides of my hood and shoulders, to make the shape of my head blend in and look smoother compared to my shoulders.

As a finishing touch I took brown spraypaint and broke up the colour and outline of my arms.

I ended up ghillieing my left arm, and leaving my right arm clean, as I need to be able to move my right arm freely.

I made a ghillie rifle wrap too that isn't shown in the photo, using just netting, then sewing on burlap to it.

On a side note, I found that a good blend of artificial vs. natural foliage on a ghillie suit is about %40 artificial, %60 natural.

You can make ghillie pants using the same method, I would recommend without netting, as they will be too heavy and too hard to move around in.

And as a tip, try not to put foliage on your front right shoulder area, as that's where you rifle your gun, and if you do, you'll find your neck getting quite sore after a while, bending forward to look into your sights.

I would really encourage anyone who makes a ghillie suit to coat it in fire retardant afterwords, and store your ghillie suit indoors, unless you like bugs... lots of them.


On ANOTHER note... Here's a good camouflage theory lesson on silhouettes...
It's better to have a more rounded silhouette, so that the head and body sort of meld into a more natural blob-like... pile, instead of a head-like shape.
So smooth out the outline of the shoulders with more natural or artificial foliage.

[Cyklops]

Originally Posted by Eldin

I made mine using a similar method.



I tacked on 1/2" fish netting on the back, over the shoulders and on the upper chest area of a WW2 bdu, I then cut, dyed and frayed hundreds of 4" - 12" pieces of burlap from burlap sacks different earthy tones and sewed and tied them on to where the netting was located.

I proceeded to sew 2 large patches of burlap on the lower chest/belly area of the suit, and spray painted them earthy tones.

I then made a hood by cutting off an old hood from a hoodie, tacking netting onto it, and sewing burlap strips onto it. I then made a face veil out of 1" netting and attached it to my hood.

After it was mostly together, I sewed on more burlap strips to places that needed a more natural shape, for example the sides of my hood and shoulders, to make the shape of my head blend in and look smoother compared to my shoulders.

As a finishing touch I took brown spraypaint and broke up the colour and outline of my arms.

I ended up ghillieing my left arm, and leaving my right arm clean, as I need to be able to move my right arm freely.

I made a ghillie rifle wrap too that isn't shown in the photo, using just netting, then sewing on burlap to it.

On a side note, I found that a good blend of artificial vs. natural foliage on a ghillie suit is about %40 artificial, %60 natural.

You can make ghillie pants using the same method, I would recommend without netting, as they will be too heavy and too hard to move around in.

And as a tip, try not to put foliage on your front right shoulder area, as that's where you rifle your gun, and if you do, you'll find your neck getting quite sore after a while, bending forward to look into your sights.

I would really encourage anyone who makes a ghillie suit to coat it in fire retardant afterwords, and store your ghillie suit indoors, unless you like bugs... lots of them.


On ANOTHER note... Here's a good camouflage theory lesson on silhouettes...
It's better to have a more rounded silhouette, so that the head and body sort of meld into a more natural blob-like... pile, instead of a head-like shape.
So smooth out the outline of the shoulders with more natural or artificial foliage.

Good advice from that picture haha!

I haven't even spent a cent on my ghillie yet! I had an old volleyball net lying around which nobody in the hosue has used in quite some time. I wanted to use a hoodie but I had old ones with earthy tones but found a black hockey jersey which is working out perfect so far! For the head I plan on just using a standard ski mask. I already have some material to use, two old army green t-shirts which I can cut into strips as well as my step-dads old wal-mart camo pants which are actually decent for the ghillie. Im soon making a trip out to wal-mart to buy some camo yarn as well as jute.

I hope to have some pics up soon when all the netting is sewed on, than when its complete!

[Eldin]

Originally Posted by Cyklops

Good advice from that picture haha!

I haven't even spent a cent on my ghillie yet! I had an old volleyball net lying around which nobody in the hosue has used in quite some time. I wanted to use a hoodie but I had old ones with earthy tones but found a black hockey jersey which is working out perfect so far! For the head I plan on just using a standard ski mask. I already have some material to use, two old army green t-shirts which I can cut into strips as well as my step-dads old wal-mart camo pants which are actually decent for the ghillie. Im soon making a trip out to wal-mart to buy some camo yarn as well as jute.

I hope to have some pics up soon when all the netting is sewed on, than when its complete!

The only thing I spent money on was the dyes..

Took me close to 6 months to finish mine

Just remember it's verrrrrry time consuming and your going to need ALOT of burlap/jute to buff up your whole ghillie suit, more than just yarn and some extra fabric.

And once you get all that crap on there, remember, fray fray fray fray fray

I used shoegoo to reinforce my stitches, and to even attach some of my burlap and netting, it's great stuff, I suggest picking up some, it makes things go a bit faster.

[Cyklops]

Originally Posted by Eldin

The only thing I spent money on was the dyes..

Took me close to 6 months to finish mine

Just remember it's verrrrrry time consuming and your going to need ALOT of burlap/jute to buff up your whole ghillie suit, more than just yarn and some extra fabric.

And once you get all that crap on there, remember, fray fray fray fray fray

I used shoegoo to reinforce my stitches, and to even attach some of my burlap and netting, it's great stuff, I suggest picking up some, it makes things go a bit faster.

Yeah, I will certainly do that. And im not worried about the time to complete it, I have plenty of free time at the moment so I can plug away at it as much as I can before schools starts up again.