Sewing pattern review: Sweetpea Pods by Lazy Girl Designs

As I think I mentioned in my previous zipper tutorial post, I ordered the physical Sweetpea Pod (LGD135) pattern from Etsy before it was available online at Craftsy. I had already made project bags like the Becca Bags are, and the only thing that would've been new was the zipper technique. So at least the Sweetpea Pod pattern had a different design to use. I haven't really searched free tutorials for a pouch shaped this way, so I don't know if they exist and how unique this design is. 

But this is my honest review (as a beginner in sewing) of the Sweetpea Pods by Lazy Girl Designs: 

The pattern arrived from the US in a week, as a letter. The day it arrived was the day I noticed that the pattern was now available as a PDF pattern download at Craftsy. I don't know how many days it had been there, but after I had ordered anyways. I could've saved a couple of dollars on shipping costs, but that's life. The physical pattern is printed 2-sided on a larger sheet of paper that is folded to get 3 pages of instructions + the back & front.

The pattern is only for the instructions ("rotary cut project"), there is no actual pattern included. The whole pattern is about the instructions. I know a basic square might seem a bit silly to include as a pattern, but I don't have the equipment to easily make accurate rectangles/squares that are larger than the A4 paper size, so it would've been nice to have. And simplicity goes both ways - doesn't seem impossible to add a 10" square at the backdrop of the instructions, considering the instructions are printed on a bigger folded sheet.

Here are the Sweetpea Pod pouches I made (it's convenient to make two at a time). My pods are slightly smaller than the pattern instructs, since I used a smaller template. The zipper I had was also shorter than in the pattern, so it was better to make a smaller pouch anyways. And I think that in this case smaller is cuter!

For the top stitching to create a look of "faux piping" (though you can't really see it in my pouches). I used a grey thread for the top to match the exterior fabric and a green thread in the bobbin to match the lining.

It's not in-your-face obvious from the cleverly staged promotional pictures that the "raw" (though zig-zagged) edges of the seams are visible inside the pouch, i.e. not hidden between the liner & exterior fabric. I can see them from one of the promo pictures now that I know to look for them. Granted, they only really show if you fully open the zipper and the pouch is relatively empty. But that's another disappointing aspect of this pattern - I sort of expected a more professional finishing. No, I don't know how feasible it is to make this shape so that all the seams are invisible, but as a paying customer that's not my job either. If I could figure it out on my own, I wouldn't be using a pattern.

Raw edges don't really look fancy. The seams in my other bag are much more visible because I didn't change the sewing thread from grey to green after doing the topstitching, but that's entirely my own mistake!

Positives:

• The pouch is cute!
• The pattern is quite clear with photos and written instructions
• The pouch is easy to make
• Now also available online

Neutrals: 

• Using only one side of the zipper tape gives a nice look, but the "trick" that is described to apply the puller, isn't that exciting.

Negatives: 

• Raw seams/edges inside the pouch. Since the pattern is not free, I simply expected more finesse in the details.
• In my books, quite expensive, but seems to be in line with other purchasable patterns. 
• Rotary cut project means no ready-measured pattern.
• The promotional pictures are somewhat misleading, or, showing you only one side of the truth. Instagram photos of finished objects also only aim to look the best, so no one is going to post a picture showing that part of the pouch. 

Honestly, I was ultimately more interested in the Becca Bags because I wanted to make knitting project bags that looked like that (I just started sewing them so I want to try to make different kinds to see what I like the best). I'm glad that I purchased the Sweetpea Pods design rather than the Becca bag for a couple of reasons: 

1. There are plenty of free tutorials for zipper pouches, and you can easily adapt a Becca Bag style zipper (using only one tape) to use with those instructions. 
2. None of the photos of the Becca bag show the inside / bottom of the bag. It had bothered me before (like any collection of photos that only truly show the same one side of any item on sale), but with the hands-on experience with the Pod pattern, it got me even more suspicious. 
3. This post confirms my suspicions, there are similar raw edges in the Becca Bags as well: "I don't like raw edges that are zig zagged on the inside of my bags if I can help it. The Becca pattern called for that type of seam for the bottom and side." 

I have actually already made a "Becca" bag. But I automatically made the improved version because I used the free tutorials (linked in my zipper tutorial) to create bags without visible raw edges. It requires some mental gymnastics at first, but then it gets easier after you've done one. I don't think a paid pattern should cut corners like that, but that's just my opinion. I have now seen some instagram photos that show the raw edges at the bottom of the Becca bag. It doesn't look that terrible I suppose, at least if you do the finishing stitch with a serger / overlock machine. But raw edges are still vulnerable to fraying and small pieces of fabric lint/thread coming out of the seams, or for example key rings getting stuck and snagging a thread. 

A thought I had was that the lazy in "Lazy Girl Designs" refers to the design itself. It doesn't mean that the pattern provides the customer the laziest route to creating awesomeness.

My final opinion as a customer is that you should buy the Sweetpea Pods pattern if you like the cute design, not for the specific technique used to attach the pull.