How to Make a Military Style Ghillie Suit

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Dye your burlap by filling buckets with fabric dye and hot water.

   Mix in the dye until the color of the water matches your desired result.
   
   Stuff the burlap sacks into the buckets and leave them to soak overnight.
2. 2

   Step 2: Hang your burlap sacks to dry.

   Make no attempt to work with wet burlap (it's miserable). , This will produce a rectangular piece of workable material.
   
   You can either discard the cut-off stitching or save them to tie onto your ghillie suit. , Keep these strands organized by length and color. , In my experience, the easiest way to do this is to put on your BDUs and lie on your belly while a friend or assistant drapes the netting over you, chalking over the netting where it meets the seams on your BDUs so you know where to cut it later. , You can either attach the netting with just ShoeGoo, or you can use dental floss like you would use a needle and thread and then, ShoeGoo on top/over the knots you've made w/the dental floss.
   
   Anchor the netting onto the seams of your BDUs with unwaxed dental floss every 3 inches (7.6 cm) or so, adding additional stitches in areas of high stress such as the shoulders. (keep in mind, this takes a few hours to do it right.
   
   Ideally you don't want the netting to pull up any more than an inch to 1 1⁄2 inches (3.8 cm) off your back or you will deal with a 'sagging' effect. , The netting should be large enough to completely cover your head and drape down below the neckline except for your face.
   
   If you want the netting to cover your face for some situations, you'll need to cut the face area in a manner that will allow you to tuck it up under your hat when you do not desire to conceal your face. , You'll want to snug the knots well enough to stay, but not too tight, as you will ultimately need to add/remove burlap over time, to fit the colors of the area you're in.
   
   If the knots are too tight, removing colors that don't match your environment can be a real time consuming process.
   
   This step takes hours, but a good ghillie suit should. , In doing so, you will need to use enough burlap, but, this makes for a very HOT and stuffy existence in the summer months, so take care in where you put the jute/burlap and how much you use.
   
   I know from experience that if you use too much, you will suffer because of it, both in weight of the ghille and the heat.
3. 3

   Step 3: Cut off the bottom and side stitching of the burlap sack.

4. 4

   Step 4: Using your fingers or a large-tooth comb

5. 5

   Step 5: separate the individual strands of jute from the material.

6. 6

   Step 6: Cut your netting to the same size as the panels of fabric on your BDUs that are exposed when you're lying down.

7. 7

   Step 7: Attach your netting onto the back of your BDUs using a combination of the following; unwaxed dental floss (high tensile strength and because if no wax

8. 8

   Step 8: it holds a knot a LOT better and does not rot like thread will over time) and ShoeGoo.

9. 9

   Step 9: Attach a piece of 2'x4'netting onto your boonie hat or ball cap style camo hat in the same fashion.

10. 10

    Step 10: Taking between 8 and 16 strands of jute of the same color at a time

11. 11

    Step 11: tie them onto the netting using an over hand knot.

12. 12

    Step 12: Keep in mind

13. 13

    Step 13: you want to create a "mounding" affect that breaks up the outline of the human shape.

Detailed Guide

About the Author