Alright, let’s talk about putting together a brown ghillie suit. It wasn’t some high-tech project, just me needing to blend into the dead stuff out back, you know? The greens are great for summer, but come fall and winter, you stick out like a sore thumb.
Getting Started
First thing, I needed a base. Didn’t want to start totally from scratch, that’s too much hassle. Found an old BDU jacket and pants, kinda tan-ish brown. Good enough. Figured it’d make a solid foundation. Then, the main part: the covering. I decided against buying those pre-made ghillie kits. They never look right, too uniform.
So, I got myself a ton of jute twine. Like, big spools of it. And some burlap sacks. The trick was getting the right browns. Not just one brown, but different shades. Think dead leaves, dry grass, mud, tree bark. Nature isn’t just one color.
- Got natural jute (light tan).
- Bought some darker brown jute too.
- Found some old, dirty burlap sacks – perfect texture and faded brown.
The Messy Part – Making it
Okay, this is where the work really began. I cut the burlap into strips, maybe one or two inches wide and about a foot long. Then I started unravelling them, pulling out the individual strands. Tedious? You bet. Made a huge mess everywhere. Dust and fibers flying.
Did the same with the jute twine. Cut lengths, lots of ’em, maybe 18 inches long? Then I had piles of this stuff. Light brown, dark brown, burlap texture. Looked like a giant pile of dead grass clippings in my garage.
Next up, attaching it all. Some folks use netting sewn onto the BDUs. I just grabbed some heavy-duty fabric glue and went section by section on the jacket and pants. Probably should’ve used netting, looking back. The glue method was… sticky. And slow.
I took small bunches of the jute and burlap strands, folded them in half, and glued the looped end down. Tried to mix the colors and textures randomly. You don’t want clumps of just one color. It needs to look messy, natural. Left some gaps too. You gotta let the base BDU color show through a bit, adds depth.
This took hours. Days, really. My fingers got sore from handling the rough material. Glued myself to the suit a couple of times. Yeah, don’t laugh. It happened.
Finishing Touches and Trying It Out
Once the glue dried and the main body was covered, it looked okay, but still a bit… clean? Too manufactured. So, I took it outside. Rolled it around in the dirt a bit. Rubbed some mud on it. Let it sit out in the sun and rain for a day or two. Beat it against a tree. You gotta rough it up, make it look like it belongs out there.
The final step, and this is important: adding local stuff. When I actually planned to use it, I’d spend maybe 10 minutes grabbing handfuls of dead leaves, dry grass, maybe a few twigs from the exact spot I was going to be in. Used small elastic bands and just tucked them into the jute strands all over the suit. This makes a huge difference. It ties the suit into that specific environment.
First time I wore it out properly, I just lay down near a fallen log. It was heavy. It was hot, even on a cool day. And yeah, moving quietly is tough, stuff snags. But wow, watching deer walk within ten yards of me, completely clueless? That felt pretty amazing. It worked. Looked like just another lump of dead leaves and branches.
So yeah, making a brown ghillie wasn’t quick or clean. Took effort, made a mess. But getting those different shades of brown right, roughing it up, and adding local vegetation? That’s the key. It’s not about fancy materials, it’s about looking like dirt and dead plants. Simple as that.
