It first comes always differently and secondly, never as you think...

Due to this very true saying I of course had to catch a cold at the Larp which provided me with the opportunity to stay with my family an unexpected bit longer but on the other hand finishing Ryoga in time would now be quite an insane task for me. So I decided just to focus on Zuko a bit more and make the costume the best I could with more time. And probably I'm also going to start work on Narsus on the holiday before I head off to Vienna again as this won't be as hectic as sewing Ryoga in just one day and one night would be. Anyway here's a bit more progress of Zuko.

After finishing the basic shirt and adding band to the sleeves I started work on that decorative piece of the belt. I had decided to use fake leather for the look and sewed two pieces together left-to-left. Afterwards I cut lots of band again and sewed it onto the belt part. For the upper seam I used the sewing machine, the back I handstitched again in order to hide the seams.

What it looks like when I cut bands xD. I mark both sides and seamallowances.

Half-way finished belt decoration

Afterwards I appliquéd the flames. Took me more than one try to sew these in a zigzagstitch before cutting them out and afterwards handstitching them onto the leather. I was a bit afraid that the leather would suffer if I used the zigzag stitch again to sew them down. 

Afterwards my grandma helped me to adjust the collar and after adding band to it as well, I redid the decorations again as I had bought the DVD-box in the meantime and saw that they were much more detailed than expected. For the decorations on the shoulders it took me ... maybe 6 tries or 8 till I was satisfied with the shape. The one at the bottom of the collar I finished in just one go due to all this practice. Again I cut them out and hand-sewed them onto the shirt as I was not sure if it would stretch too much and look weird.

The new decorations before I sewed them into place

So now I just had to finish the rest of the belt. Added press buttons in the back (as knotting would look strange and it isn't knotted at all in the show) and started work on the ... brooch/buckle something.

I used worbla's and I think the correct term might be eva foam for it. Connected the worbla pieces by heating with a hairdryer and glued them onto the eva. 

Basic pieces of the buckle

Afterwards I applied quite some layers of  wood glue with a fine wetted brush. After drying I spraypainted the base black and now just the golden colour of the flames is missing (have the best shade in Munich for that) and a safety pin in the back. 

So finally Zuko's nearly ready to go. Also watched some tutorials for the burn scar (going to use latex). Maybe a friend might help me a bit to get the wig into its final shape now. Hopefully. Oh and of course I also have got everything ready for open-chest binding. I just hope that I didn't make the collar to big to hide everything. But so far I'm really really happy with the cosplay :).

Phew 90% finished finally.

 Also exchanging progress with Ty-Lee so far was great. Her top looks as if it was really taken from the cartoon so far :). Oh and I also rewatched nearly the whole show due to being ill xD.

Oh and besides I'm quite happy how inexpensive this cosplay turned out:
Red fabric: 7 Euro
Trousers' fabric: about 12 Euro
Fake leather: about 5 Euro
Thread: about 8 Euro
Latex: 10 Euro
Aside from this I only used rests from other cosplays and the wig was already bought for Zuko's later book fire version when he joins Aang & the gang.