I removed the mesh you are supposed to look through so I can wear a cap and mainly to keep my glasses from fogging up.

Shayne

I looked through my crap and found a link to where you can buy poly ghillie string if you want to build, add or modify a ghillie. I don't know how to copy, so I'll type it out.
www.ghilliesuitplus.com/ghillie-suit-jute.html
They have several colors. I may get some for repairs or mods.

Shayne

I just opened the mesh area as you said and it worked pretty good with a cap underneath and the cap bill kept the top strings from hanging in my face so much so I dont think I will need to trim them, I may end up adding some string in the area under my nose as this now looks kinda bare.

I sewed (used the fabric rivit gun) a piece of large hole mesh I had to the brim of the hat. It is long enough to hang 4 to 6 inches below my chin and totally covers my face, but is far enough away from my face to not bother me.

Shayne

I wear glasses & a cap, fits over the cap perfectly after I cut the face mesh out.
I also ran the suit through my sewing machine and went over all the single stitching & they are all doubled stitched now. My strings dont pull out nearly as easy now without a super hard yank/pull.

I was wondering how hard it would be to double sew my suit. I guess I'll have to do it now, it looks to good to let it go bald.

Shayne

Got my suit and tried it on one stand last sat. Suit sheds worse than my Lab in the spring. I knew it would shed some, but WOW! Clumps of thread falling out every time I put it on.

Anyone else having this problem?

ibschmidty

Yup ^^^^^, I re-sewed everything, makes a big difference, the arms were hard as heck to do redo though.

Hand sew, or machine. can you describe to me how you did it? What thread you used etc...

I am just kinda let down that I spent 85 bucks to get it to my door and now have to do some work on it to make it worth having.

Machine with regular thread. I did a tight stitch(25 stitches per inch) and small zig-zag. My wife said zig-zag was the strongest stitch. I've got the body done and will do the arms today. It's slow and a pain in the butttt, but worth it in the long run.
For hand sewing my hunting stuff I use 80lb test braided super line fishing line. The wife was scared it might be too big and tear up the old singer.
I bought my ghillie while it was on sale, but agree the sewing of the string was very loose and shody. Looks like about 5 stitches per inch and very very loose.
Crap, I've still got the hood to do too!
It's a shame too, because they look good, fit good, and blend in very well.

Shayne
PS Use a thread color you can see. If you make a boo boo and need to fix it, thread that blends in sucks. I did mine with the mesh down and the strings up. Take your time keeping the strings worked under the foot on the machine.
I've got the sapper suit so I have no pants to do.

I too agree that the stitching could be a whole lot better. Without upgrades/repairs this thing sheds a lot. Even if the same stitches/inch were used but double stitched it would have been a lot better. This suit sheds at least twice as easily as the other ghillie I bought from APC.

I repaired mine the same way, i.e., strings up and mesh down. Same comment about the strings catching. I have not done the arms because that's a pain.

It is best to do this work right when it comes out of the box. Otherwise I would guess it would be far more difficult.

The thread I am using is heavy duty, but so is my fabric welder. It will go through a few layers of cordura nylon (and often does when I'm customizing other stuff).

The head sock is tight fitting, but cutting out the mesh and wearing a baseball cap works well. However, then I can't wear my electronic earmuffs, so that doesn't work well. If you weren't going to wear muffs I'd say I like the design very well -- except in hot weather because there's no way for air to move past your head.

I haven't had mine out yet because it seems hotter than my old one. Come fall it will see the fields.

With the skinney arm on the machine the arms were amazingly easy. I went to the biggest zig-zag stitch and really like it better. WOW, was the very top of the head cover hard to sew, but going SLOOOW, I got it.
I think I'll go over the body of the suit a second time with the big zig-zag. It's way too hot to use it right now anyway.

Shayne

I did mine with the mesh side up after trying to do it string side up and getting them all hung up in the foot of the thread welding machine.
After turning it inside out it went a lot faster as nothing to catch in the foot, just have to make sure the strings are not all bunched up. I just fed it with one hand under it to keep the srings flat & straigh when running the thread welder and followed right under the factory thread line.
I used standard green thread and a small zigzag after trying the straight weld.
It would of been nicer if my thread welder had a deeper throat to accept the long arms...that was the hardest for me.