Make A Ghillie
If you haven't read the materials article, do so now to get an idea of what you need to buy before getting started.
Step One: Reinforcing Points of Contact
The first thing you need to do to make a ghillie at home is take your extra canvas material, (or any strong cloth material really), cut round-edged squares, and attach them to the elbows, knees, and chest of your flight suit or BDU. You can attach them using Shoe Goo, Amazing Goop, or you can sew them on using fishing line or unwaxed dental floss. Only do this if you are going to be crawling around on your belly (you most likely will be).
Step Two: Attaching the Netting
Now you will need to attach the netting to the flight suit or BDU. Where you attach it is totally dependent on what you are going to be using the ghillie suit for. If you are going to be bow hunting, you'll need a bow hunting ghillie and therefore will need to leave some area around the arms and sides free for easy maneuvering. If you are going to be stalking you may need to just cover the entire ghillie suit with camouflage (burlap), because you may need to crouch for extra speed. If you do attach the canvas to the points of contact (elbows, knees, chest), then you probably don't want to attach netting on the canvas itself. Just go around the canvas with the netting. But ultimately it's your call; do you what you think is best for your situation. You can attach the netting three ways: Shoe Goo, Goop, or you can sew it on. But make sure it is tight against the flight suit/BDU and not sagging. Let the glue dry before attaching any burlap.
Step Three: Dyeing
This is a very important step in making your ghillie suit. You will need to take time studying your surrounding area for natural colors. Pick the top three colors that you see in your environment. Then you will need to take your burlap and divide it into three groups. One group needs to be 60% of the burlap you have (approximately). This will be the most popular color you see in your environment or the place you'll be stalking/hunting in. The second most popular color in your environment will be make up 30%. The last 10% will go to the third most popular color in your environment. What you want to do is dye the burlap about 1 square yard at a time in buckets with lots of warm or hot water. Be careful with how much dye you put in with them. Sometimes the less dye the better, and don't forget to rinse the burlap afterwards to get rid of any excess color. Let dry before going on. Once dry cut the burlap into 8 by 1 to 2-inch strips (give or take).
Step Four: Camouflaging
Now you're making a ghillie suit. This is where you attach the burlap to the netting. You can use rolls or sand bags, but you will need to cut them into 8 by 1 to 2-inch strips. This way the burlap is clean and and not dragging all over the place. Now you start "camouflaging" your flight suit/BDU. You want to work your way from the bottom up. Starting with the ankles of the pants, ending with the top of the flight suit/BDU. Basically, you take your strips of burlap one at a time and tie them to the squares of the netting. Using a simple knot, make sure it's snug. Then you start to fray the burlap strips. Meaning you pull the strands apart partially, making it look more like something you would see in nature. You will need to mix up the colors a bit. Don't make one part of the ghillie all tan, and then another green. You may attract attention. You'll want to alternate colors every three strips or so.
Step Five: Conditioning
This is where you make your ghillie suit scentless and fire retardant. You can buy fire retardant from just about anywhere and basically once your glue and everything is dry, you just spray it on your ghillie. Burlap is extremely flammable, so I don't suggest smoking while in one of these. Also, for the scent, you may want to hang the suit outside for a day or so after making it. I like to do this because it's in nature, so it begins to smell like it. Also, I hear of a lot of rednecks dragging it behind their truck, although I don't advise this; trucks generally produce a lot of fumes. Something that will set of any human, let alone animals. Basically you just want to get it dirty. But not around animals. That will set off dogs.
Final Step: Headgear
This is by far the most fun part of making a ghillie. Mostly because you're almost done. I usually enjoy putting a lot of detail into the headgear. Essentially, you want to take some type of headgear (hat, cut-out hood, ski mask) and attach more netting all over it. And then you attach your burlap like you were taught above. You can then attach the headgear to your flight suit/BDU using Shoe Goo, Amazing Goop, or by sewing it on. If you're using a hat or a ski mask, you won't need to attach it to your flight suit/BDU.
That's it! I know it seems like a lot, but don't get discouraged. Take breaks. Ghillie Suits are time-consuming projects that can take anywhere from 1 day to a few weeks depending on how well you make them. But most only take a day or so. If you read over all of this and think this is too big of a chore, you can check out our selection of ghillie suits over at the homepage. You can also call in custom projects, which will require communication, so you can contact me for any questions/help/custom orders.
