I made the cc pouf about a year ago and asked my sewing group for feedback and then did my own thing. Sometimes getting opinions from others helps me to clarify my own. For what it’s worth, I would do random placement. Also, I made the mistake of using denim from stretch jeans for the saids - doesn’t stay as erect as it would with non-stretch denim.
May I make one more suggestion? When I made this pouf, I added two handles (just a tube of fabric laid over a side panel and stitched into the seam attaching to its neighbor). This thing gets heavy when it is full and I’ve been very happy to have the handles for moving it about.
Agree - I did the same thing but used some thick webbing I just had on hand.
The other thing I did was made a bag out of netting to put my scraps etc in there so they were contained when I pulled things out when I needed to wash the pouf. Ask me how I learnt that one😏
And yes this thing gets heavy, like stupid heavy so use thick fabrics, heavy duty zip and seams etc