This little mummy makes a great Halloween decoration.

Not every aspect of Halloween has to be spooky. This little mummy would just love to hang around at your next holiday haunting!

What You'll Need

• 1-quart saucepan
• 5 tea bags
• 3/4 yard unbleached muslin, 60 inches wide
• Scissors
• Iron and ironing board
• Straight pins
• Pencil with eraser end
• Sewing machine
• Coordinating thread
• Polyester fiberfill
• Sewing and embroidery needles
• 2 black E beads
• Spray bottle
• Paper towel
• Plastic clothes hanger
• 5 x 8-inch piece felt
• 6 old buttons, assorted sizes

1. Measure 3 cups of hot water into a saucepan. Steep tea bags, and let cool while you create the doll.
   
   
2. Use photocopier to enlarge these doll body and tie My Little Mummy Door Hanger Halloween decoration patterns; cut out. Press muslin with iron if needed. Leaving a 2-inch border around all outside edges, pin body pattern to a doubled layer of muslin. Use sharpened pencil to trace around pattern, directly onto muslin. Remove pattern. Pin arms, legs, head, and stomach to prevent the layers from shifting during sewing. DO NOT cut out body yet.

   To keep the muslin layers from shifting, pin them.

3. Sew body, stitching directly on pencil lines and beginning and ending at dot between legs. Backstitch at beginning and end to prevent seam from unraveling. Cut out, leaving 1/4-inch seam allowance around outside edge. Clip curves and inside corners to ease. Remove straight pins. Pinch 1 layer of fabric only at center of doll's back and cut a small slit (refer to pattern as a guide). Turn doll right side out through slit. Use eraser end of pencil to smooth head, arms, legs, and feet. Stuff with fiberfill. Eraser end of pencil can be used to push stuffing to extremities. Thread sewing needle with coordinating thread and whipstitch slit at back to close.

   Cut a small slit for the stuffing into the center of the mummy's back.

4. Stitch E beads to head for eyes. For a more dimensional effect, begin at back side of head: Inserting needle through to front side, slip on bead, then return needle through head to back side again. Pull to embed (or sculpt) the eye into head. Repeat for remaining (bead) eye; whipstitch at back of head to secure thread ends.
   
   
5. Tear 10 to 12 strips of muslin 1 inch wide and up to 60 inches long. Press if needed. Tie 3 knots in 1 strip to make the hanger.
   
   
6. Begin wrapping mummy with all remaining strips, whipstitching a small dot at each end to hold firmly in place on doll. Once doll is partially wrapped, some ends can be tucked under other layers to hold in place or tied in some areas to create an "unraveling" appearance. Tie hanger to wrists as shown.

   Tie the hanger to the mummy's wrist.

7. Remove tea bags from saucepan and discard. Pour tea into spray bottle, and with doll held over a sink or water basin, spray lightly with tea mixture. Coat outer layer only; doll does not need to be completely saturated. Dab with paper towel to remove excess liquid, then reapply until desired effect is achieved. Hang the doll from plastic clothes hanger until dry.
   
   
8. Pin tie pattern to felt and cut out. Cut a 1/2 x 8-inch strip of the same felt for neck portion of tie. Referring to dotted line on pattern, center top of necktie on felt strip. Fold top point of tie over strip and stitch a button on top to hold in place. Tie thin strips of scrap felt to hanger to accent. Stitch buttons to doll.

Your mummy friend is now ready to hang out all Halloween long. To give a festive fall touch to your Halloween bash, make a decoration that incorporates falling leaves. The step-by-step instructions for our colorful Falling Leaf Garland are on the next page.

Want to scare up more fun Halloween ideas? Try these:

• Halloween Crafts: Not done being creative? These are great do-it-yourself projects for Halloween, from trick-or-treat boxes to candy jewelry.
• Kids' Halloween Costumes: Try on our unique costume ideas for your ghosts and goblins.
• Halloween Masks: Want an easy way to dress up for Halloween? Try a mask instead of a costume. Check out our selection of monstrous masks.
• Halloween Games: Play more than 20 spooktacular games to entertain kids and adults alike.
• Halloween Recipes: Learn how to make dozens of bewitching Halloween treats.
• How Halloween Works: Traces the popular holiday’s Celtic roots to American traditions celebrated today.
• Pumpkin Carving Patterns: What's Halloween without pumpkin carving? Check out these great pumpkin carving patterns.