A bit about the process...
I've had the urge to be a mummy for a few years, ever since I got into that band, Here Come the Mummies. Seeing them live in August (and meeting the band after the show) pretty much cemented the idea.
Not to mention the fact that I bought a couple mummy Halloween decorations this year, and designed a couple new pumpkin patterns of mummies... including THE Mummy, Karloff's version. This just seemed like a year for the mummy.
If you'd like to be a mummy in this style, you can follow the same steps. First I collected the components. From Goodwill I picked up white pajama pants, white shoes and a white turtleneck shirt (made of Egyptian cotton, fatefully enough). From Walmart, the cheapest set of white bed sheets I could find (twin size) and the cheapest box of 100 tea bags I could find. From the Halloween shop, white gloves, white and brown grease paint, and powder.
All in all, the supplies probably cost me $20. This might be the cheapest costume I've made in quite some time. However, it was probably one of the most time consuming, due to the all the sewing. But we'll get to that.
First step... "age" the sheets, shirt, pants and gloves using handfuls of teabags in giant buckets of hot water.
Soaked for several hours, then dried to set the color. Then washed, to make sure I didn't stink like a tea house. As you can see, compared to this piece of white paper, the cloth took on a nice sandy shade.
Then I cut slits in the bed sheets every couple inches...
Tear at the slits and there we have our mummy wraps..
And then the "fun" part. Sew on the strips, one by one by one by one. Let me mention... I haven't really used a sewing machine since the 7th grade, when we had a class that required us to make a simple pillow. So this amount of sewing was quite a crash course.
Had to cut the seams of the sleeves and pant legs, so I could sew the strips on flat. Then turn the shirt/pants inside out to sew a new seam.
It gets quite awkward to sew onto every inch of the clothing. Sewing on the edge is easy. Trying to get the needle onto the middle of the garment without sewing the front to the back... well, it will drive some to madness. Thankfully, it's okay to be sloppy. Mistakes just add to the look.
Once the shirt, pants and gloves (fingers cut off) had their wraps applied, I tried it on. Let me give you some advice. Start with a shirt/pants that are loose to begin with. And try it on periodically, during the sewing process. Because once you sew stiff bedsheets onto every inch of your clothing, it will no longer have ANY give. Putting it on is akin to giving birth. Wearing it feels like being in a full-body straight jacket. And trying to remove it involves the same frantic contortions you'd see in the death-defying act of an escape artist. God forbid I had to use the bathroom. Oh, but we creative types suffer for our art, don't we?
Although my face would be mostly covered with bandages, I paint myself up first. With the white and brown makeup, I aimed for an aged and sandy look. Set with powder. Lots of powder, even in my hair. Mummies should be dusty, right? White contacts and tooth-black were applied for a rotten mouth look. Despite the HOURS of sewing work, it was the 5 second application of tooth black that got some of the most attention. Just goes to show, it's all in the details.
I sewed a cowl for my head, which covered my neck as well as the sides/back of my head. Holes were cut out for my face and for my hair to the spiked out the top. I tied some strips of the fabric around my head like a headband, across my nose, and around my neck. All the excess dangling bandages just adds to the look. I also knotted long bandages around my wrists, elbows, knees and waist... all so there would be more of a random look, with strips dangling in the breeze.
Not the most comfortable costume, and I don't want to see another sewing machine for a long time. But I'm happy with the result, and glad to have another creation hanging in my costume closet beside the zombie, hunchback, cowboy, mad hatter, scarecrow, etc.
