PDF Patterns Good or Bad?

I'm a big fan of PDF patterns.  That being said I have a few concerns about them.  I didn't run into a problem before until I decided to purchased an out of print pattern for a Speed Skating suit for my son.

The pattern ended up being 72 pages. 72 pages that all have to be printed out to make up the pattern.  That is because they have 22 sizes in the pattern.  It was unbelievable each piece of the pattern was scanned in no real order. The trouble being that it was the large pattern sheets that were scanned.  Not by each pattern piece. So you start printing out the pages but they don't give you an over all picture to show you what pieces go together. So you have 72 pages to go through.

 I made the mistake of cutting out the patterns to the size I wanted, thinking that this would help me put them all together.Wrong! What a mess as you can see.  I couldn't make heads or tails out of it, I was 2 days of trying to put the pieces together.  The collar for the suit took 5 different pieces being taped together to give me the full pattern piece.  That meant that it was on 5 different pages that where printed out.  I can't believe that they couldn't think of another way to do this PDF.

Once you finished the cutting and taping together.  I found the rest of the pattern didn't have much for written instruction.  Good thing I know how to sew and follow along with diagrams.  I have no idea if there was a better instruction sheet in the original pattern.

I bought this pattern as it was what I needed for a skin suit for speed skating for my son. As it was no longer in print I had no choice but to buy the PDF.  I have purchased a lot of PDF patterns for purse making, I like the convenience on it and the fact there is no cost for postage.  So I thought I would give it a try.  I will not be purchasing anymore PDF for clothing as I fear that this is about what you are going to get.  I have spent more on ink and paper and sweat hours trying to put the pattern together.  Postage would have seemed cheap in comparison.

I loved the look of the suit when all was said and done.  I have made him two suits so far and will most likely try another one later in the skating season.  So at least I had a finished product for the trouble.  The main thing is try to find out how the PDF is made up and if all the pattern and instruction has to be printed out. And I guess buyer beware is sometime needed.