There are many different types of survival clothing you can make out in the wild, but one that has gained a lot of attention because of the very well thought of Wood family, who give some amazing instructional videos and information on how to create a hunter’s frock out in the wild which not only offers you extra protection from the elements, but allows you to carry around excess material which may come in useful down the line.  The one big and legitimate issue that comes with crafting a survival frock is that generally speaking, it’s not practical if you’re caught unaware in the wild and salvaging for supplies and equipment.  However, if you’re just going to a long term camp in the wild, a base camp for weeks on end, then creating a survival frock or hunter’s frock (same thing, different names – both a poor man’s version of the classic rifleman’s frock worn by many military soldiers in the 19th century).

There are many different ways to go about creating one of these pieces of clothing, and the way you would go about creating one for extended outdoor or survival situation use is going to differ greatly from making one that appears historically accurate for a Civil War reenactment or anything like that.  There’s no brass buttons and the uniforms don’t have to be made of dyed wool, although a plain sheet of thicker wool is not a bad place to start at all.  In fact, many individuals prefer this to a large sheet of leather or cloth.

While I’m not going to go into the full process of creating these from scratch – I’ll let the debates continue to rage on various survival or reenactment forums on the best way to go about designing these pieces of clothing.  However, I will offer some common tips I’ve received from others with just as much or more experience with this topic than I have.

1. If you’re going for a belt as opposed to buttons, then “ripping” the belt from the blanket often results in a better and more natural straight line than trying to cut it.  Many experts insist this leads to less fraying issues long term, as well.
2. If in doubt, use extra material.  You can always cut away more later if you have too much, but too little you can’t work with.
3. Trace before making cuts.