Making your own camo clothing is fun and not really all that difficult. You will need access to a sewing machine or to someone who can sew it up for you. While "sewing" is very "girlie", sewing CAMO HUNTING CLOTHES IS VERY MANLY! I didn't have a clue on how to sew when I first started, so I asked my wife give me a couple of basic lessons. My sewing got better after each vest or coat I made. Remember, the deer or turkey are not going to see (or care about) sewing imperfections. Just do it and you will get better.
Start by going to a store like Wal-Mart and head to the sewing and materials area. Check out some patterns like this McCall's pattern for a vest (my first project) or better yet, get a pattern of a coat or sweat shirt with sleeves and a hood. Open up the package and pull out the pattern. They are usually made of a tissue material and are not very durable, so I taped together some colored sheets of paper and cut out the pattern. Use different colors of paper to differentiate the hood, sleeves, back and front of the coat. While your there purchase a 26 inch heavy duty zipper, a bunch of spare sewing machine needles (beginners break them a lot) and most of all look at their selection of camo material. Each stores selection is different so look at a couple of different stores. I have found Mossy Oak, ASAT, Realtree and several other patterns. Material comes in a couple of widths, get the stuff that is 60 inches or wider. You will need 3 yards to make a size large jacket with hood and sleeves. Also, you will need 3 more yards of liner material. I use a camo on the outside (of course) and fleece on the inside. Since the liner is on the inside of the coat you can purchase the cheapest fleece that is on sale. It is a plus if it is some type of dull color or a camo color...but anything will do. I have not tried to add some insulation or batting material between the liner and the outside shell which will add some complexity to the project. I only use them as outer shells over other layers.
Lay out your material and cut out two hoods. (Note the triangle shaped darts sticking out of the patterns. These darts are used to line up the mating piece for correct alignment when sewing.) Make sure you reverse the hood pattern to the "front or camo colored" side of the material and then flip it over to the plain back side of the camo material to get a "left and right" side of the hood. Continue by cutting out the right and left side of the front. Then cut out two sleeves. Then the back (large single piece).
Front Right side in camo and paper pattern next to it
Making a paper pattern of the back, note colored paper
Ok, now you have all the parts for the outside shell. Now we need to use the same patterns again and cut out the liner material. Spread out the liner material, put on the pattern and using a felt permanent marker draw the outline, then cut it out.
Don't forget to reverse the liner pattern since you want the "liner" to face the opposite way from the camo side (its on the inside facing out). Again, cut out the same 7 pieces of liner as you did with the camo material. Lay the liner face down and put the corresponding camo piece over it. Pin it together to keep it in place for sewing. Continue matching all 7 pieces and pin them together (not all pieces showing in this pic). Now your ready for sewing. Start with the hood and sew the liner and camo together for both halves. Later you will sew these two hood halves together to form the full hood.
