Meet the Ukrainians in Glasgow making camouflage nets to send home

Camouflage nets are widely used in Ukraine to cover dugouts, trenches and equipment on the battlefield. The co-founder and main coordinator Natalia Matsenko agreed to share the story of Weegie Weavers, a Glasgow-based camouflage netting group. 

Natalia, 52, from Dnipro, Ukraine, came to Scotland in September 2022 with some experience of making camouflage nets in Ukraine and wanted to continue the craft here. Joining with another volunteer Lyudmyla they set up the Weegie Weavers.

Although, right now Weegie Weavers are based in Prince House in the centre of Glasgow, the first location was set up at Destini church Shawlands around Christmas time in 2022. The materials mostly were old clothes and bedding sheets. All fabrics were to be cut and coloured beforehand which took them about a month to make one camo net.

‘Back in Ukraine, when the war just broke out, we were making camouflage nets with no instructions on what to do. You just look up at the person next to you to see what they are doing and repeat after them, then the next day you see another person doing it differently and think maybe that’s how it’s done, so now you’ll be repeating after them.’

While Lyudmyla was looking for location and materials, Natalia focused on finding the most efficient technique. 

‘I started looking for a proper pattern to make the nets and found volunteers from Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine who taught us their technique. They were very good at using less material for a bigger area both saving fabrics and making nets lighter for soldiers to carry and move places’ 

To speed up the process Weegie Weavers started using khaki coloured spunbond bought and delivered from Ukraine. All the materials, including spunbond and scrim netting, they buy out of their own pocket.

Although Weegie Weavers can hardly compete with volunteers in Ukraine who save time on delivery, Natalia says that camouflage nets are always in demand. 

‘There are always massive queues for that kind of stuff because they are mostly for one-time use. Once they are damaged you cannot use them again.’

To deliver the nets to Ukraine they use a courier who gets them materials from Ukraine and picks up the nets on the way back. Everything produced reaches the frontline, Natalia explains. She says some volunteers have connections with the military and pass over requests from a particular brigade with the needed colour and size. To date, Weegie Weavers have produced 149 nets, symbolically naming each of them.

Words: Anna Konovalenko