With all this talk about all these crazy-expensive camo patterns that are out there, I started wondering if I could make my own camo, and it be somewhat as effective as some of the "Major" brands....

Seems it would be pretty easy to make a copycat ASAT suit out of some $15 khaki's and a $30 cheapo jacket.....

Ideal would be a khaki/tan colored windsuit I imagine. Then some of that old spray on waterproofer.

hmmm.....

While everyone else here is thinking "how much can I spend on hunting this year"I'm thinking "How little can I spend on hunting"

If you've found a comfortable set of clothes I don't see why you couldn't make your own camo patterns. May I recommend using an airbrush and textile dye instead of a spraycan though. The dye will absorb into the fabric whereas the paint will only cling to it.

I've made 2 really nice ghillie suits that I still use for turkey hunting - I'm all about saving a buck as well!

Cool, can we see some pics?

I remember looking at a post a few months back where this guy made his own camo shirts and pants by using tie dye withearth tone colors.
I was quite surprized how well it looked ,he did a great job.

My main concern with an airbrush and dye, is would I be able to get the rich dark colors as with a paint? Just have to experiment I suppose.

I've thought about it but never tried.

How hard could it really be?? Find solid color clothing with a good 'base' color(khaki, brown, forrest green,etc), wipe down with concentrated dyes and/orbleach on the darker base colorsin what ever stick/limb/grass/leaf pattern you want.

Could make several sets for different conditions for the price of 1 designer set.

Here's the price difference between them

cost of 5 shirts and 5 pants

Enigma -- $750
Predator -- $490
ASAT -- $550

Home Made -- +/- $200 depending on your materials. That's ALOT of money saved...

I Compared to those because of all the buzz around "open patterns"... and they'd be the easiest to simulate, especially ASAT.

But don't forget, the Engima is in Wolfskin, you can't duplicate that. ASAT doesn't come in Wolfskin and I can promise you that price of Predator sure isn't Wolfskin, compare that to Enigma and Enigma is cheaper.

Enigma 3D is due out January, you won't duplicate that either.

I'd be curious to see pic Davoh when completed.

ah but rob, the purpose of this little experiment is not to create a commercial grade product, but to scrimp monies.

Never will i say something I create is better quality than enigma, just that my money is better spent elsewhere... like on rent... I can't afford to spend $150 on one set of clothes for anything, let alone hunting. If i can spend that on a complete wardrobe of sorts, that's what I'm after.

I like enigma... otherwise I wouldnt try to imitate it.... imitation is the highest form of flattery afterall...

Sure here are a couple of pictures. The first one I made took many months. I used a camo burlap - I destrung all the burlap strings by hand then grouped them in 25 thread clusters, tied a big loop in one end, then used Spider Wire to hand sew them on to a set of BDUs I had. Over 3000 loops of 25strand.
The picture below is only of the hat and jacket as I hadn't finished the pants at the time of the picture. (only picture I could find of it.)

The main problem with version 1 is that no matter how many times I washed it, it always smelled like burlap - but in the weeds you are nearly invisible!

Here is "Gorilla Suit" Version 1


Version 2 I went a different route. I bought some camo fabric from walmart and cut it into long strips. I folded the strips widthwise and ironed a strong crease in it, then folded them in half lengthwise- then I sewed it on the BDUs. Eventually I got sick of sewing and used fabric glue, which has held up very well!

and "Gorilla Suit" Version 2