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How to Make a Leaf Suit for Hunting

Blending in with your surroundings is an integral part of being able to attract an animal while hunting. While standard camouflage may do the job, a ghillie suit provides hunters with more ability to blend in. While some ghillie suits are covered in long strings, homemade suits can be covered in cloth leaves to provide camouflage in areas of dense foliage.

Things You'll Need

Camouflage pants
Camouflage shirt
Mesh or fine netting
Measuring tape
Scissors
Padded shelf liner
Canvas
Cloth leaves
Fabric glue
Needle
Thread

Instructions

- 1
  Lay out your camouflage shirt and pants on a flat surface. Select a fabric with a camouflage pattern that matches the foliage colors of the area that you will be primarily hunting in.
- 2
  Cut a piece of mesh netting 30 inches tall by 30 to 40 inches wide, depending on your waist size. Ideally, the mesh should extend 5 inches beyond each side of the waist of the pants.
- 3
  Find the halfway point of the width of the mesh. Cut upwards in a straight line for 22 inches. Lay the pants on top of the mesh that has been cut to mimic the shape of the pants.
- 4
  Lay the shirt over the top of the mesh and cut a pattern around the shirt, leaving a 4 to 6 inch wide border.
- 5
  Turn the pants and shirt over so that the back is visible. Apply a small dot of fabric glue at the grid knot of each square of mesh in a straight line down the length of the pant leg and back of the shirt. Repeat this process along the width of the pants and jacket every 3 inches. Lay the glue over the netting so that it adheres the mesh to the pants.
- 6
  Cut a piece of shelf liner padding large enough to cover the front of the pant leg from the middle of the calf to the middle of the thigh. Smear fabric glue over the back of the shelf liner and apply it to the front of the pant leg to act as padding. Cut a piece of canvas in the same pattern, with a 1-inch larger border, and apply it over the padding in the same manner as waterproof protection.
- 7
  Thread a needle. Stitch fabric leaves, in a color corresponding to the camouflage pattern and area that you will be hunting, onto various areas of the suit. Use a whip stitch to loop the thread through the leaf, mesh netting and a small piece of the shirt or pant fabric. Tie the thread off and repeat the process until the suit is covered in as many leaves as you'd like.

Nature