How I Made My Korra Kida Cosplay

I procrastinated pretty hard on this project and left my self a week to finish it in. I had the design mostly laid out, and I knew exactly what I had to do, so luckily I wasn't winging it all week. Read on to see how I put together this cool mashup!

I guess before we get into production, we should touch base quickly on how I came up with the design. I tried to take the most iconic parts of each character's outfit, and mash them together. So obviously Kida hair, styled more like Korra. Korra's outfit changes from Book to Book, so I cheated and used elements from all of them. Her top and skirt mostly remained unchanged, so I incorporated them in with a crop top, and added a flap to the skirt, while taking away the pants.

​I think I managed to get the best of both characters and I'm pretty proud of it.

​I decided to start with the shirt. I had a clear plan to follow so I figured it would be the easiest. I started with a base top from Value Village and cropped it down. I added some interfacing to the collar to keep it as popped as possible.

​I was going to cut strips from a white shirt I bought to use as trim, but luckily, it's seams were lined with a trim, so I just ripped out all the stitches and transferred it to the blue top.

It was really hard to figure out the front of the top because i had no edge to sew around. I did okay, but I'm not happy with the puckering effect it left.

The next thing I worked on were the arm band gloves. I had extra material from the bottom of the top, so I traced my hand and the shape of the glove onto a paper template and then onto the fabric and sewed it up. These gloves were way more flexible than the ones I made for Psyduck.

Following the gloves up the arm, I worked quickly to make the arm bands. The gold band is cut out of craft foam, mod podged, and painted gold. It matches my skin too closely, so I'll have to pick a new gold to use.

The fabric band on the other side is made from the sleeve of the shirt I bought for the skirt fabric. I hemmed it and sewed it together and then I took some fabric paint to it until I was happy.

The hardest part about the skirt was figuring out a good pattern to cut the skirt into. I used some old brown flannel I had (I honestly don't even know why I have it...) for the base, and my STILL left over faux fur that has been used for so many projects. I used the bottom of the shirt as my belt because it was completely seamless, so it was easy to sew it around the top and use it as a tie in the front. 

I cut a flap from the shirt to use in the front, which is pinned on the inside of the skirt behind the knot and draped over. I tried hemming the bottom, but it just curled in and looked silly, so I took it out and let it be natural.

The next thing I worked on was my water bending! This surprisingly took the better part of a day. I started with a scarf from Value Village and some fishing line, but it didn't have enough swing so I had to add a weight. What is small and heavy, and convention approved? Not metal, that's for sure. 

But when all you have around the house is chunks of metal, you get creative. I wrapped the metal up in a few layers of felt and duct tape. It created a soft barrier on the metal so it couldn't hurt anyone if it swung off.

Now, I needed to guarantee that it WOULDN'T swing off. So I tested and reinforced my knots and my strings and my layers, really making sure it could make it through the day. My final composition used a triple braided fish line doubled over the metal chunk and the small ring I had around my finger. I love how it looks in pictures!!

The last thing to do is the wig! The wig I bought was a shitty cheap thing from Party City because I didn't have time to order one online, obviously. So I shaped it in the basic shape I wanted, with a longer front piece and the two side ponytails.

The wig was horribly wavy, so I tried the boiling water technique and it worked! After two douses in boiling water, the wig was super straight! 

The next thing I did was make little ponytails, I think? The little blue pieces on her ponytails anyways. I made them the same way I made my bullets for Vera, I rolled paper around a battery. I used dark blue puffy paint to add some details to the top and bottom and then painted the center a light blue. I put them up over my ponytail ties and glued them gently with hot glue.

The front hair piece I just hair-sprayed lightly just to make sure it kept its shape.
On the day of the show, I had to "delete" my side burns because they showed really badly through the side of the wig. 

I tried the glue stick + foundation technique and it turned out really great. It took quite a bit of work smoothing it down and then blending it, but it was really just to camouflage it.

I think it turned out pretty cool. A lot of people knew who my mashup was, or at least one of the characters. I'm not sure if I'll get professional photos done of this cosplay, but if I do, I'll update the post!

Unfortunately I don't have a breakdown for you on Cosplanner, because Cosplanner broke down. =( No it didn't, I just deleted all my data accidentally. So I have nothing to show for all my hard work. Just an entire costume. Sigh.

JK. I am sad, but not that sad.

​If you could be an element bending Disney character, who would it be, and what element would you bend? Comment below!

*kiss kiss*