A ghillie suit is a 3D form of camouflage, in that you weave fabric and vegetation into the suit. In doing so, you can literally disappear into your surrounding area. The suits are primarily used by the military, however; it is not uncommon to see someone use one of these suits in recreation. For example, bow hunters generally need the best camouflage necessary, and will use one to blend in. People who play paintball, or airsoft use them for much of the same reason. Though, if you are serious about getting a ghillie suit, you need to consider making one yourself.
The best ghillie suits are the crafted ones. Hand picking the colors of your environment will give you the best blending effect into your surroundings. A lot of people buy ready made suits, only because they are unaware that you can craft your own vary easily. By craft, I dont mean you have to literally forge your own material to make one. In stead, you can buy a ghillie suit kit. The kits are generally more affordable, and more effective.
First things first, you need to find a ghillie suit kit. You don’t need to get the best one out there, just something that will get you started. To save you some time, here is a place to get ghillie suit kits. Now that you have a kit, it is time to get started. Open up the kit, each brand has a different starting protocol. Most of the time, they will all tell you to weave the same way. A basic weave is done by looping a piece of fabric in half, placing the fabric into the mesh, and wrapping the fabric back into the loop. Your instructions will detail you on how this is done. You will want to create multiple layers, and rows of fabric. The point is to be completely covered by the fabric. If for some reason you can see through the suit, you do not have enough layering. After you have completed weaving the fabric inside the kit, you can then start to weave in local vegetation. Scout around and find the most common vegetation in your area. Remember, you do not want to stand out, the point is to blend in.
I have been making my own suits for a long time. Ghillie suits are always a work in progress, so you will want to have fabric for each season of the year. You wont want to have spring colors during the winter, so be prepared. For my personal favorite, check out the custom ghillie suit kit. That kit has some of the most durable material I have seen in a long time. As a last resort, you can always buy a ready made suit. That is, if you can’t get the hang of custom weaving.
