Ghillie suit

[LordArgyll]

Sure, if you want to buy that pre-printed stuff at $8.25 a yard compared to $4.95 for the plain stuff that you can mottle yourself. And you'll probably only need six or seven yards. That and a big coil of hemp rope and you're all set.

Plus there's something about pride in personal craftsmanship and knowing your suit is made the way you want it.

[Ryma Mara]

but you also have to look at how much its gonna cost to make sure its mottled the way you want it and make sure its not gonna turn out crappy or get messed up in a wash.

And becides thoes are military grade ghillie sutes. I would rather have somehting tha tI knwo is gonna last for years than something thats gonna fall apart.

[jjshumpert]

the true guillies dont even use what you would call a good grade of burlap, its supposed to be ratted out, thats what makes it work so well

[987654321a]

i like having the pride of making my own ghillie suit like argyll said. and also to customize it how i like it. i just made 120 bucks sellin my xbox and ill spend the money i made with that on makin the suit.

[Corbin_Das]

Hi all
As a former Army Sniper/Forward Observer, I can say that the hand made units are generally better. This is how I made them:

Get whatever base clothing you're intending to use (BDU, flightsuit, etc). Get yourself a "jungle hammock" at the local Army/Navy surplus store. These look like nets with 1.5" squares or so. Sew on the netting to the back of your clothing at the intersections (this takes the longest).
Then have your burlap cut into strips about 1.5" wide by about a foot or so. Tie these strips onto the netting. Fray out the ends of the burlap. You can do this by removing the shorter cross section threads or just by giving the suit a nice tumble in the dryer for a while.
The nice thing about this type of "tied" suit is that you can change out the color as needed depending on surroundings. If you need any spercial colors of jutte/burlap, email me and I can see what I can dig up for you.

I hope this helps

Corbin

[patolcott]

Okay, this is a long and very complicated process you are about to undertake... I am a former force reconnaissance scout sniper and i made all of my own ghillie suits. The main theme of ghillie suit making is that you want to start with light colors then gradually get darker depending on what environment you are in. remember you can always make darker but you can never make it lighter. also know that when stalking, or even when wearing a ghillie suit you will sweat alot which causes your suit to darken. that is basically rule one. also another thing to keep in mind is the rules of observation. people see movement, shine, and difference in color. so you have to keep that in mind when selecting materials for making your ghillie suit. Glues are not good nessesarily because they can cause shine. and if you get the color wrong a person with good obs skills can spot you. I know i have not even started with the actual suit itself, but these are things you HAVE to know before even attempting to build a Ghillie. lastly you need to know what a ghillie is for. The main reason we wear ghillie suits is because it breaks up the human shape. no matter what you do if your ghillie does not breake up the outline of your head and shoulders, you will be spotted. everyone can identify the human shape. okay here we go... you will need,

1, a light colored camo (I suggest Multicam because it is the absolute best camo ever made it works just as well in the desert as it does woodland areas.) and a boonie cover
2, about 2 yards of 1" netting preferably not white or black but a tan or olive green color.
3, 1 yard of .25 in netting (for your shroud. i will get into that soon.)
4, a ball of fairly thick Jute rope.
5, a couple of od green burlap sacks. (does not HAVE to be od green it all depends on the area you plan on using the ghillie.) keep that in mind when chosing colors.
6 about 2 yards of canvas. ( optional.)
7 heavy duty sewing materials. Needles, thread, etc. You can use a sewing machine. i did most of mine by hand, but that is because i did not have a good enough sewing machine. as long as you take your time and have a steady hand you should be okay.

okay now that you know what you need, lets get started.

First step you want to do is actually optional, i did it because i used it in 150 degree weather, you may not have to... anyway sorry lol get carried away sometimes. what you do is you will want to cut out about a 2' X 2' hole in the back of your camo blouse. and a similer hole in the back of the leg on your trousers. the size of the hole is up to you. the purpose of it is for venting because a ghillie gets very hot! once you have your holes cut you will use the .25 in netting to fill in the holes giving you a vented blouse and trousers. (again this step is optional)

Second step, again an optional step. you can reinforce your blouse and trousers with the canvas. what you do is you cut the canvas to fit on your blouse, and your trousers. you will want to reinforce your chest area, and your thigh area. remember that your blouse is a button down shirt so you will have to make the chest reinforcment into two peices. again this is totally optional, but if you intend on doing some skull dragging you will need the reinforcement. attaching them is pretty self explanatory sew the canvas peices onto your blouse and trousers

third step, now we will move on to the 1" netting. what you want to do is put your blouse on and drape the netting over your blouse in such a way that the netting covers the entire back, and down both sides of your shoulders. to about your nipple level. keep in mind your blouse shoud be able to button up so the netting should be separated up the center of your chest. now that you have your netting cut to size and length you need to attach it to your blouse. you need to attach the edges first, and then attach in various places throught the rest of the netting. do not attach every square because you will be using the netting later. now you want to do the same thing to your pants. you will take the netting and make it go from your backside waist down to about your mid calf lvl. the netting does not need to be on the front of your pants because no one will ever see the front of your legs. attach it the same way you did the blouse.

fourth step, we are getting there... lol like i said it is a long and slow process. now we want to take the jute and make alot of 12 in peices. ALOT. now once you have those 12 in peices take the peices apart and fray them. after that, you will want to knot them onto the 1" netting. the best way to knot them is to fold them in half. put the bend of the jute under the 1" netting then thread the end of the jute through the bite. or the loop it creates when you fold it in half. this will securely attach the jute onto the netting and it will make it 6 in long which is about perfect. now you need to do this multiple times all over your ghillie. now don't make the same mistake i did the first time i ever made one and put just in every single square, lol it will turn you into a wookie and it will not work. you need to space it out. do this all over your netting on your blouse and trousers.

fifth step. take the burlap and do the same as step 4 only dont fray the burlap, cut them into 1" by 12" peices.

okay now we are almost there we have to make the veil. this is the most important part. it is the main peice for breaking up the human outline. you will want to take your boonie cover and take the .25 in netting and cut about 2' by 3' peice attach the boonie in the rear center of the netting, you want the long side to go in front of your face. now once the small netting is attached, attach the 1 in netting on top of the .25 netting. and you will want to have about a 2' by 2' of the 1 in netting. place the 1 in netting directly over your boonie. attach it. now take the jute and burlap and reapeat step 4 and 5. remember dont go jute and burlap crazy. leave a foot of the .25 in netting free in front of the veil that will be what covers your scope.

now that we have finished your blouse trousers and boonie, we get to do my favorite part. you need to get it very very dirty. LOL I know it sounds crazy but there is no better camo than real earth. best way to... will finish soon gotta go ... okay i am back the best way to get your suit dirty is to get it wet then drag it through any dirt. make sure to get some wet grass stains on it as well. once you do that two or three times, letting it dry between each dirt run, you are done.

The last thing i will say is that no ghillie suit is truly done. every sniper carries at least two bungie cords with them. whenever you are in an area you need to VEG up. meaning punt the local vegetation in your ghillie suit. the way to do this is to take what is in front of you and clip it and put it on your front. take what is behind you and put it on your back. make sure that the shiny side of the veg is facing your enemy. always veg. veg every time you change possesion, veg every 30 min. etc. i hope this helps.

[Silver Serpent]

That's quite a bit of information there. Unfortunately, the last post was from Feb 2007. I think this thread was well and truly dead.

[patolcott]

LOL never checked the date... just got really excited cause this is something where i actually know what i am talking about. I have been scouring this site for saber building info and have not been able to post much so i jumped at the chance to share my knowledge and help where i can. LOL oh well maybe somebody on the internet searching for ghillie suit building will find it.