SpoolPod & Garment Planner Notepad Review!

Hey guys! I'm back today reviewing some bits from Creative Industry. When they emailed me asking me if I'd like to review their new Garment Planner Notepad I jumped at the chance and I was even more grateful when the parcel came and they had included one of their SpoolPods too! I want to state now that even though these items were gifted to me my opinion is still completely my own and 100% honest, I would never recommend anything to anyone if I didn't believe in the product.

SpoolPod

I'm going to start with the SpoolPod because I think this little tray is amazing, so basically it's a silicone tray with 10 slots so you can store a spool of thread and matching bobbin together, we've all accidentally used a navy blue bobbin with a black spool of thread and this cool little storage solution will eliminate that error completely. Each slot in the tray measures 1.8cm x 7.7cm and it's not just compatible with Gutermann threads, you can also use it for Aurifil and Coats, and I'm pretty sure there are a few others out there that would work too because the silicone stretches a fair bit.

Current Storage

When this arrived my thoughts immediately went to my own thread stash, I currently have my bobbins and spools of thread stored separately and I'm going to be quite honest here... This system only truly worked for me for about 6 months give or take before I was really sick of it... Basically I've been getting more and more frustrated with the fact that my bobbins are unravelling and jumping out of their slots, I actually put an elastic band around the case after about 3 months because there was nothing keeping the lid closed securely, but even with the elastic band (which is wrapped around twice) keeping the lid tightly shut, if the case is shaken or knocked the bobbins still have enough room to jump out of their slots which jumbles them up and has resulted in a few really knotted and tangled messes! The spool case I own is better but it's still got the same issue when it gets knocked... If I even slightly knock it with my elbow or something when I'm sewing the lid flies off and the spools go everywhere, thankfully they don't unravel because you can secure the thread on the spools themselves. I started looking for alternatives after that 6 months but as you can imagine it's one of those things where unless you are actively having the problem you kind of forget about it, I would only really look when I was sewing something or when I'd been tidying up my craft room so it kept being put on the back burner.

Spool and Bobbin

Bobbin Stack

When I did my review of the PatternTrace Swedish tracing paper, which is also sold by Creative Industry, I had a LONG browse of their website and saw the SpoolPods and immediately thought it was a front runner for replacing my current storage! I had the idea that even if I didn't want to solely store spools and bobbins together that I could maybe stack a few bobbins in each slot, so when I was testing them out I decided to try out my theory and I was pleased to find that I could stack 6 Janome bobbins in each slot meaning I could store an epic 60 bobbins per tray!! 

As one of my biggest annoyances with my current storage is that the bobbins and spools fly out and get tangled I decided to put it through it's paces during my video review (which you can find below), basically I put 6 bobbins stacked in one end and a spool and matching bobbin in the other and shook it hard! Nothing flew out or even moved, so I then took the spool out and shook again to see if a bobbin would move if it was on it's own, it did move slightly but only in the slot it didn't come out and the thread was still securely wrapped around the bobbin. I love that you can stack these too, I had a light bulb moment thinking you could store them stacked in a pretty photo box and then you can keep different thread types and brands separate which is great because I currently have 2 bobbin cases, 1 for Gutermann and 1 for Aurifil.

I will definitely be getting more of these in the future, I really do love it! If you want to purchase one you have the option to purchase a single SpoolPod or in a pack of 5 which is perfect if your thread stash needs taming ;) you can use the code lilbitcrafty for 10% off any order on Patterntrace!

Garment Planner Notepad

Now onto the Garment Planner Notepad, if like me you often find yourself wandering into a fabric shop thinking "Now what size buttons did I need for that top again?" then this notepad is for you! There are 50 pages which basically means enough for 50 projects and as you can see there are various sections to each page and some blank ones too so you can add your own for those more obscure and unusual bits of haberdashery. The paper is a really nice quality and it even has a slight background print, it looks kind of blueish grey with these cream squares connected by lines which is very pleasing to the eyes, I wanted to test a variety of pens to see if there was any real problems like the page ripping or ink bleeding etc.

Pens

The pens I used were Pilot Frixion erasable pens, my Gryffindor ballpoint pen, a free ink roller pen, a Sharpie and a Staedtler Fine Liner, there weren't any issues with any of the pens really, the Sharpie bled through the page but the ink didn't go through onto the next page so it would work in a pinch if you had no other pens available, to see the pen test in more detail you can watch my YouTube video which is above. 

Back of Page

I really do love this notepad, the fact that I can just write down everything I need and pop it in my bag really does appeal to me, I hate coming across an amazing little shop and not knowing what I need for my project it really frustrates me because then I usually end up having to find it online etc and I love shopping small/local and that just isn't always an option when shopping online. If like me you're constantly forgetting what haberdashery you need and what sizes then this notepad is perfect for you, I'm not going to lie... I have actually been in a shop before hopelessly searching the Internet to find out what I need so I know this will get lots of use! If you want this notepad, or anything else from Patterntrace, then you can get 10% if you use the code lilbitcrafty (this is not a referral code or an affiliate program, it's literally just a discount code for my followers).

Close Up of Erased Frixion Pens

So yeah, all in all both products are fantastic and definitely fit for purpose, I can't find fault with either of them. I want to thank the lovely people from Creative Industry for giving me the opportunity to review these items, and I hope that anyone reading this or watching my video has found it helpful. Thanks for sticking with me this long, if you have any questions at all then leave me a comment below and I'll get back to you ASAP, I will be back really soon with some cool Cricut projects!