Cosplay - Avatar Azula Lolita Kimono DIY Tutorial

February 12, 2017

Avatar the Last Airbender has to be one of my favorite animated series (I've watched the entire series maybe 5x). For Amazing Comic Con 2016, my friends and I wanted to group cosplay. I'm not too sure how we thought of Avatar, but we decided to cosplay as the Fire Nation.

To make things more interesting, we created a little more different costume, rather than the traditional outfits in the series. I was browsing the web and found this adorable inspiration. A lolita-style kimono.

I then found this perfect tutorial by (of course) Yumi King!
♡ Tutorial video for top
♡ Tutorial video for skirt and belt

These videos are very helpful. I am a beginner at sewing, but her instructions are pretty simple and clear. I did have to alter the measurements to fit my own body though. A lot of the usual trial and error.

Bought my fabric at Walmart & Fabric Mart.

Started of with the skirt (circle skirt pattern).

Hem the skirt!

I love how the circle skirts are naturally ruffled.

I think these strips were for my gold lining of the skirt? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sewn the lining on to the bottom of the skirt.

Folded it over and viola!

Okay, so the gold lining was too thin and would keep flapping upwards, so I ended up redoing it. I had to take off ALL the stitching... don't know how long that took me...

Taking this off was a big pain in the butt!!

Restarting fresh! Looks a lot better :')

Next was the easy square sleeves. I also cut out gold strips for the lining of the sleeves.

Wow my beautiful hem on the gold lining.

Sew the lining onto the sleeve.

Starting to come along!

Make sure you align where the ends meet of your gold lining and square sleeves or it will turn out like this -__- Luckily, this was the bottom of the sleeves so you can't really tell anyways.

Okay, so I realized I didn't take any progress photos of my black top except for this picture with the gold lining sewn on... After finishing the top, I sewn the square sleeves on. I did not take any pictures for this step either... ಥ_ಥ

I love black and gold combo!

Got this Fire Nation symbol off the web and just cut it out. I used red felt to sew it onto the back of my top because it was the easiest way to do so (I tried with red fabric and it did not come out nice...)

I had no idea what I was going to do for the bow... For some reason I wanted to make it like a fluffy pillow. It came out pretty ugly, but whatever, a good backrest LOL

Sewn two rectangular pieces together

I stuffed the pillow with A LOT of fluff.

Added some gold ribbon for a nice touch.

Attached the pillow to the obi/ sash with velcro.

I realized that I did not take pictures of my obi/ sash, but it was basically just a long rectangle that fit across my waist. I used velcro to attach it together too.

Used white foam to cut out Azula's crown and painted it gold.
This was the same gold paint I used for my Trafalgar Law sword.

I attached the crown to my bun using the same gold ribbon I used for my pillow, I mean bow.

Costesting ~ very pleased with how it came out!!!

At the convention, I got to meet and chat with VAMPYBITME (*fangirls*)!!!
She is so sweet and my favorite cosplayer! I was so happy I got to see her in a ONEPIECE cosplay :') I really wanted to see her debut her Nico Robin Film Gold Cosplay, but she had worn that on a prior day :'( Still glad I got to see her as Boa Hancock! One Piece fans unite!!!! ヘ( ^o^)ノ＼(^_^ )
I hope the next time I see her, I will be in a One Piece cosplay!! (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))