How to make your own Ghillie Suit

A Ghillie suit or otherwise known as "yowie" suit is a type of clothing that resembles bushes. A Ghillie suit is most often used by snipers, hunters and even soldiers in battle as it keeps them from being sighted by their target as they blend well with the background thus they become invisible.

A Ghillie suit or otherwise known as "yowie" suit is a type of clothing that resembles bushes. A Ghillie suit is most often used by snipers, hunters and even soldiers in battle as it keeps them from being sighted by their target as they blend well with the background thus they become invisible. This suit is typically made up of the same type of leaves and twigs found in the surroundings to blend well for the wearer to go undetected. These leaves and twigs are added to a one-piece coverall that acts as a Ghillie suit base.

With all the leaves and twigs added to the coverall, the Ghillie suit can get a bit heavy and the wearer, if not accustomed to wearing it yet, would feel uncomfortably hot. Ghillie suits are highly flammable as well if untreated with fire retardants. Those leaves and twigs are highly susceptible to catching fire and may burn the wearer if exposed to a fire-causing ignition which is also one reason why making your own Ghillie suit is not easy as all these probabilities have to be considered to ensure the safety of the wearer at all cost.

There are two ways of making your own Ghillie suits. First, you can buy Ghillie suit kits complete with everything that you would need in making your own Ghillie suits including fire retardant chemicals to avoid catching fires when triggers are present. Second option is to buy each item individually and make a Ghillie suit from scratch and adding each material one by one.

Militaries in combat are often entailed to make their own Ghillie suits as their surroundings may change and requesting for a new Ghillie suit may not always be an option. So, these militaries in combat make their own Ghillie suits but these suits are only meant for temporary use and they can quickly catch fire if they get too close to ignition sources.

If you wish to make your own Ghillie suit from scratch, you would need to spend days in making a high-quality suit that will effectively make the wearer seem invisible in his environment. And also, you would eventually spend much more by buying items that you would use but would end up using just a small fraction per item. Just imagine how much you would save if you purchase a Ghillie suit kit that is complete with no extra materials with absolutely no use to you. Why spend more if you have a cheaper, time efficient choice that ensures you'd get an excellent quality Ghillie suit?

With Ghillie suit kits, you would get a complete set of materials plus full instructions on how you would assemble your own Ghillie suit. Since it's already complete and you are given an easy-to-follow instruction, you would save time and money. These Ghillie suit kits are of different designs and purposes. Your end product, once you follow the instructions carefully, would be exactly what has been guaranteed to you. You wouldn't get the same satisfaction guarantee like this when you make your own Ghillie suit from scratch and the end result may even be useless and you just end up spending your money and time for nothing.

So why still take chances and spend more time and money if you could get great results by purchasing Ghillie suit kits?

How to make a Ghillie Suit

To make a ghillie suit is to invest much time and concentration into the effort. I will show you two different ways of making a ghillie suit - one is the expensive way and the other is the poor man’s way.

To make a ghillie suit is to invest much time and concentration into the effort. I will show you two different ways of making a ghillie suit - one is the expensive way and the other is the poor man’s way.

The expensive way to make a ghillie suit would be to go out and buy a “blank”. Usually a blank will be a poncho that has twine or burlap netted into it, to allow for the stringing in the foliage. Once you have this one, what you need to do is go to the area you will be using it, either the paintball arena or the hunting grounds you are going to venture to. What you do next is to pick up the surrounding habitat, grasses and leaves. Remember, if you use grass and leaves or other green items they will wilt very quickly. However, if you are hunting and most of what you will be in is dead leaves - that is a good thing. You assemble it by carefully weaving in different materials and making sure they stick. Eventually after a few hours of work you might have a whole arm done - you just repeat this until the entire ghillie suit is covered. Now throw it in a pile of leaves, and kick some dirt, mud, dust, anything like that on it. Step on it too - trample it. Once you have, you shouldn’t be able to see it easily from a distance of ten feet.

If you don’t have the money to buy one - make one! You will need some jute or burlap netting, or any comparable netting, along with either a sewing machine, or thread and needle. You can attach the netting loosely like scales on a lizard, or you can make it tight and conform. Personally I prefer scales, as it allows me to put more onto my ghillie suit. Once you have this assembled correctly, and your scales are on there, or whatever you have used, take it out back and make a mud puddle. Once you have a nice muddy puddle, dip the whole thing in it, and then rinse it off to get the major chunks out. Let it dry, and follow the same routine of heading out to where you will be hunting or paintballing, and get it gussied up with some twigs, grasses, leaves, and anything else. After you have it ready, dump some mud one it, and lightly rinse it in order to make the dirt look real - well the dirt is real, but you know what I mean.

Now, the difference between the two is the price, and the time it takes to assemble. Once you have it assembled and ready though, I guarantee you will love the ghillie suit you spent the most time on. The more effort and time you spend making one, the more satisfaction you will have when it is done. Remember, after all that manufacture you need to coat it in the dirt and surrounding smells too - this will throw off the scent from animals, and also make it look more natural.