For anyone new who is unfamiliar with this show, contestants use the patterns presented below and experiment with fabrics, construction and embellishment. It’s a fun, casual, and low-key event held during Friday Night Social.

The patterns for this year’s competition were chosen with “The Wonder of Nature” theme, as well as for their availability. They are:

	Simplicity 1550 Fairy Costume (includes Wings and Hat)  What kind of fairy will you be? The possibilities are endless! Pick a style, pick a theme and run with it!
	Simplicity 2853 Animal Body Suits This unisex pattern lends itself to all sorts of alterations.
	Simplicity 1765 Children/Animal Dinosaur Costume  What kid hasn’t wanted to be a dinosaur. Or turn a pet into one! And who says kids should have all the fun? If you’re good at scaling up patterns, go for it!

There will be 2 competition categories:

Adaptation – The garment can be modified with fabrics, alterations of style, fit, fabric manipulation, etc. The finished product must be recognizable as the pattern. You may modify, embellish, and ornament the garment in any way you wish, but it should retain its fundamental shape and form when it is compared to the pattern illustration(s).

Transformation – Try your hand at adapting your pattern into a completely different garment. Judging will be based on the ability to recognize the pattern pieces used – at least 75% must be incorporated.

You can use one or all of the chosen patterns in your creation.

Wicked Plants

In addition, we’re introducing a new element. In the spirit of Syfy Channel’s “Face Off”, we’re including a Single Concept Challenge. When we think of “The Wonder of Nature”, we envision the beauty of flowers, the bright greens and fall colors of trees or the delicious fruits they bear. We want to see your creative interpretation of the dark side of Nature. The concept we have chosen is “Wicked Plants”.

There are may kinds of vegetation that are dangerous – carnivorous plants that trap and slowly digest their victims, poisonous plants that can kill within minutes of ingestion, and plants that can impale. There also the non-fatal ones that irritate the skin or smell to high heaven.

In this category, you may chose any single pattern from the Simplicity Patterns catalog, but you must adapt it in accordance to reflect the concept. You will be required to present a printed image of the pattern and a printed image of the plant you chose. Images on cell phones and other electronic devices WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. This challenge is not meant to be a masquerade-level entry – the finished garment should be easily wearable (think hall costume).

To help people with ideas, here’s a list of candidates people can look up to draw inspiration from:

The rules:

1. Make as many garments as you want, but you will only appear once on stage. You may, however, recruit models for any others you make.
2. If you wish to combine any of the Single Pattern garments into a “look”, or style, you can model them in layers.
3. Mixing and matching those patterns is permissible, but you will need to be able to explain the construction to the judges. Documentation of that construction would be a very good idea.
4. To protect the new people, we will be using the Skills Division system for judging.

Judging will take place on Friday afternoon – exact time TBA as the convention date draws closer and updates will be posted to all social media platforms. While registration is not required, it will make the director much happier if you would drop him a line stating your intention to enter. This will give him an idea of how much time and space to allot for judging. Send inquiries to the attention of: [Removed].