Making a Ghillie Suit
Hacer un Traje de Francotirador

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Base (BDU's, flight suit, coveralls, etc.)

10 ft x 5 ft of 2 in. sq. netting (can be obtained by stripping leafy material from camo nets)

Stout Thread (Dental Floss works well)

Heavy duty/carpeting needle

canvas (closed cell foam for underneath the canvas optional)

USMC style utility cover, boonie hat, or any other makeshift hood

4-5 rolls of the primary suit colors (green and brown) in the proportions needed for the intended terrain (burlap)

assorted highlight colors (burlap)

Shoe Goop

spray paint (green, brown, black)

Think about how you want your suit to turn out. Do you want a Camelback hydration system built into your suit? Do you want mesh sewn into the back and under the arms for cooling? Do you want a pistol holster? Extra pockets? What type of terrain is it going to be used in, and consequentially, what coloration should you use? etc.

Lay your cammies, flight suit, or whatever you may be using face down on the floor. Spread the netting out over the back.

NOTE: Some people prefer to turn coveralls inside out placing the pockets inside and keeping them usable. Some do this with flightsuits too, but I have found that you can keep almost all pockets on flight suits usable without doing so.

Sew the netting all the way around the cammies. The seams make a good guideline. Shoe goop at every place the netting makes a "+" on the interior of the suit. This is not entirely nessecary, but I have found the suit tends to come out a little more durable this way.

After you have the netting secured, cut off the excess.

NOTE: Remember when cutting off the excess to leave some up top for a hood, ghillie hat, etc.

Follow the same procedures for attaching the netting to the hat (separate) or hood (attached to suit).

NOTE: The boonie hat or utility cover can be used as a hood! do not cut netting at the neck as you would for a hat. Sew the hat into the attached netting and you have a hood.

NOTE: If you are making a hat as opposed to hood, sew excess netting on the back of the hat for the attachment of burlap to cover the neck. You may also want to place something underneath this so that the burlap does not contact the skin, as it tends to cause itching in some people.

Cut the burlap into 12-16 inch long strips. Tie one piece of burlap per 2 inch section of netting (i.e. 4 strips to a "square"). Some people tie them at one end, and allow the remaining 10 inches or so to show. I prefer to tie the strip near the middle giving 2 approximately 8 inch long strips for every 1 you cut. You may want to just tie in the primary colors now, and come back and do the highlights later. On the other hand, you may want to just put them in now (as shown in the pic). Either way, do not count the highlights as the 1 strip per section of netting. These are used in addition to the normal colors.

NOTE: Some people leave the strips whole, instead of going to Step 3. These resemble leaves well (as seen here), the only downside being it makes the suit much heavier and bulky. Test each way to find the style you like. Personally, I shred the normal colors, but leave the highlights unshreded.

Shred the burlap strips as you choose by removing the horizontal fibers. The long fibers will remain on the suit and make up the camouflage. Several methods of removing the fibers can be used. Find the one that allows you to work fastest. There is no quick way here.

Glue canvas over the front of the legs, chest, and elbows. Again, you can use the seams of the pants as a guide to where the canvas should go. Put Shoe Goop in an "S" pattern on the back of the canvas and press onto the cloth. Go around the edge on top of the canvas securing the edge to the cloth preventing dirt, etc. to be caught under it.

NOTE: You will want to round the edges of the canvas so that it does not catch on anything and eases movement through brush.

NOTE: You may want to glue 1/8" Closed-cell foam underneath the canvas for extra padding and comfort. Make sure it is closed cell so that it does not retain water.

Do any customization work left to be done. Spray paint the front of the suit in random patterns so as to break up the outline of the suit and the pads. Break in the suit by wearing it around the house (very messy), drag it through the woods, etc. Do anything except get it wet as A) The suits can up an easy 80 lbs. wet and B) when they get wet the burlap tends to strand back together into the original strips, kind of like dred locks.

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