_________Katara

_________Costume Stats

Character Name: Katara
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Specifics: season 3 Fire Nation outfit
Cost: $50
Time: 30 hours
Started: December 2007
Completed: January 2008
Debuted: Ohayocon 2008

_________Reference

_________Information

My friends Becky, Amanda and Rin thought I looked like Katara from Avatar and peer pressured me into cosplaying her told me that it would be nice if I cosplayed her. Amanda and I were both heading down to Ohayocon at the beginning of January, and Amanda had a made a Zuko costume a couple of months before, so we thought it would be nice to do Avatar cosplay together at the convention.

At the time of writing, I haven't seen Avatar. (The show looks interesting, but I just haven't had a chance to sit down and watch it.) Thus, I was making this costume blind. I decided to do her Fire Nation outfit, since it was rarely cosplayed and I liked the design. I searched through a bunch of screencaps to figure out what this outfit was suppose to look like.

For the bright red, I bought a twill and a matching spandex. The top was made out of the spandex so it would fall correctly. I made the collar, the second skirt and the shoes out of the twill so everything would match.

The top was made by making a rough top out of left over spandex from another costume and experimenting until I got the shape right. On the good copy, I lined the top with spandex so that all the lines and seams are clean. I was sure to add the little "tie" she has around the bottom of her top.

I made a new pants pattern for her baggy brown pants. The second skirt is made of two matching flaps. The dark red pattern and swirls on the second skirt were made out of a false suade and attached via fusable webbing and top stitching. The top skirt was made out of a different red twill and more of the false suede.

All of the gold on the costume is left over gold satin from my Hiroki costume. To give the gold some weight, I sewed it to a backing made out of some thick drapery lining I had lying around. The arm bands were made using the same pattern I used for my Husky and Mystel armbands. I sewed think brown lines into the reinforced satin to create the details on them. The top of the armbands were made with gold cording. They have velcro in them so I can get them on and off. The top armband are loops of reinforced gold satin.

I bought a cheap pair of sandals to use as a base for her shoes (even though they have a slight heel and she doesn't). I covered the straps with reinforced gold satin. Then I patterned and added the red-arrow at the front of the shoes to make them look like hers. The collar was made out a piece of twill, and more reinforced gold satin. I bought some stone beads for the orange jewels.

Against my better judgment, I used my own hair for this costume. Amanda helped me pull off the hairstyle the day of the con. It worked, but I would have preferred a wig. :3;;

_________Misc

I felt really self-conscious in this costume, so I was a tad uncomfortable wearing it. However, it was great to cosplay Katara and Zuko with Amanda. :3

Also, props to the girl who thought I was cosplaying Inara from Firefly.

_________Images

Ohayocon 2008




August 2008