Why Catra?
As soon as I saw the concept art for the new She-Ra Netflix show, I knew this was going to be something that would be right up my alley. The designs are colorful, interesting, with diverse body types and skin color, and just all around really creative silhouettes. This is exactly the sort of show I would have loved to watch growing up. Heck, I love watching it now, and I tell everyone to give it a shot if they like wholesome cartoons, haha! Seriously, it's cute, check it out ;P
Anyways, while I had started Mermista an entire year prior but never finished her, I found myself sick at home and bored to death while in quarantine, so decided to toss together a Catra cosplay since I had all the materials for the suit, ears, and tail! I binge watched a lot of She-ra while making this and I hope that I captured Catra's feral aesthetic in my design choices! I'll be likely to keep this around as a costume I frequently wear and make updates to, so expect to see a lot more of her!
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Browse my patterns for Catra here!
Includes Cat Ears, Arm Stripes, Belt Buckle, Force Captain Badge, and Headband Mask in two sizes!
Costume Stats
Started: Dec 2019
Completed: January 2020
Status: active
Wig by: Arda (Nigel)
Worn at: TaiyouCon 2020, OhayoCon 2020
Awards: none
About This Costume
Since I was trying to use as much on-hand material as I could, I was limited somewhat, but thankfully had the PERFECT amount of this scrap coral red (from Kida and Elena), a metallic maroon red, and a really cool red carbon fiber vinyl that I got on clearance a few months prior! I even had the pink fur from a personal sewing project from the year before, and the dark brown fur was leftover from my Chocola cosplay.
I drafted the pattern using my dress form and patterned the pants to have no side seam, since I thought it would look EXTRA sleek that way! The suit zips up in the center back, and snaps are what keeps my belts and tail stuck in place on my suit! I do wish the top red yoke were a 4-way stretch, with it only being 2-way it's not quite as smooth and well-fitted as I wish it could be, heheh.
For my belt buckle and headband, I used PETG plastic and did the details in vinyl on the backside of the clear plastic, and painted over top of that. Doing the details from the backside leaves the front all shiny and means the paint can't chip off or get dirty, yay! I attach the headband using hair clips.
The ears also use hair clips to attach to my wig! They also have PETG plastic inside to help keep the form. I like using this kind of plastic because it is very rigid and keeps is shape no matter if it is crushed in heavy luggage, left in a warm car, etc. I shaved down some parts of the fake fur to make theears look a little more realistic, but I'll probably remake the, again now that I've practiced it once!
The tail is just a furry jumbo pipe cleaner I got from the craft store, and the nails I got from drug store. I filed them down to be all pointy and painted them black. The stripes on the arm were done with matte lipstick for now, but I'm going to experiment with other methods for the tattoos! I got my fangs from Spirit Halloween and cat eye contacts from Unico Eye.
