How to Make a King Tut Doll

Tutankhamun was an 18th dynasty ruler.

Tutankhamun, or "King Tut" was a young pharaoh of ancient Egypt who died young. Rediscovered in 1922, this now famous ruler is one of the most commonly known ancient Egyptian kings. Making a King Tut doll is one way to combine learning about ancient Egypt and doll making.

Things You'll Need

• Pictures of Tut's facial reconstruction
• Tan cloth
• White cloth
• Patterned cloth
• Striped cloth
• Scissors
• Thread
• Needle

Instructions

1. Draw the pattern parts of the doll on a piece of paper. For the legs, draw a silhouette of the side of a leg. For the body and the head, draw a long oval with a circle overlapping on one of the oval's ends. For the arms, draw an oval with a mitten shape on one end of each oval. Cut out these pieces.

2. Lay the tan cloth on a flat surface. Trace four legs on the tan cloth with the leg pattern, trace four arms with the arm pattern, draw two of the head and body shape outlines. Cut the pieces out along the outlines.

3. Match up the pieces into pairs, such as leg with leg and arm with arm. Sew three-quarters of each leg pair together, starting at one top corner of the leg, going down, around and back up to the other top corners. Do the same for the arm pairs. Flip the pairs right side out. Fill the parts with the cotton batting, and finish sewing the pairs closed.

4. Draw the face on the head area of one of the head and body shapes, using the reconstruction picture as a guide. Set the head and body shape with the face up on a flat surface. Place the other head and body shape on top of the first one, matching them up.

5. Sew three-quarters of the head and body sections together, and flip them right side out. Stuff the head and body pieces with cotton and finish sewing the pieces together.

6. Sew the arms and legs onto the body of the doll, in their proper places.

7. Measure from the waist of the doll to the middle of the legs. Make a white cloth skirt with this measurement and the waistline measurement of the doll. Trace a rectangle that is slightly longer than the white skirt and is three-quarters the width of the doll's leg size on a piece of paper. Cut the rectangle out, and trace it on the patterned cloth. Sew one of the cloth rectangle's small sides to the top of the white skirt. Sew a band of patterned cloth around the top of the skirt. This is the pharaoh doll's kilt.

8. Set the middle of the striped cloth's edge against the doll's forehead, and pinch it together behind the head with your fingers. Sew the point that you are pinching closed.

9. Adjust the cloth on the top of the head to look like a pharaoh hat. Size down the cloth as needed, then cut the two flaps of cloth into "u" shapes.

10. Tie a ribbon around the edge of the hat, with the ends underneath the back of the hat.

References

• "Clothes and Crafts in Ancient Egypt"; Richard Balkwill; 2000
• ThinkQuest: Egypt Clothing Types
• "Make Your Own Old-Fashioned Cloth Doll and Her Wardrobe"; Clare Bryant; 1990

Resources

• "Ancient Egypt"; Mary Green; 2004