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I love to make new patterns ...I have some staple patterns but I tend to think that it's a good thing to change.
I also tend to think ' if it ain't broke don fix it' but along side of that I like to keep coming up with new patterns. It's a bit like if I go to a pop concert..I want to hear the old songs but also love to hear the new.
So when I make a pattern I usually have an idea if it will work though sometimes it doesn't and its then that I waste lots of time.
I can keep going with it trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear till I finally throw it out of the window!
I do see this aspect as a learning curve and even though its not producing a saleable bear it is a way to discover new things. I also use proper fabric ...as it might work so I don't do one out of cheap fabric...I don't see the point in that as for me I would not get a real feel for the new pattern.
So how much experimentation do you do ..or do you tend to stick to the safe patterns? If, like me you do experiment how far do you go with it till you admit defeat?
Jenny, I also love to make new patterns. And I understand perfectly what you say about the 'learning curve'. It's the same feeling I have. When I 'lose' time over a new design, I always think that even if it doesn't give me an immediate result, it is good because I learn something new that will come in handy later. And it is true!
I generally don't commit to real fur until I'm quite certain of the final result. I have a big box full of cheap muslin legs, bodies, arms and so on. I know that even having a nice looking muslin arm doesn't mean the fur one will look fine, but that way I avoid the blatant mistakes! This is when I do a completely new animal or design. When I do changes in a consolidated pattern I just do it on paper and hope for the best! 
My husband put a long wire on the wall where my work table is. I hang the 'body pieces there when I am working on a project, and sometimes they stay there for some time...it is a bit creepy maybe...but I love it!
As for defeat, I never admit defeat! I might change my approach. For example when I did my first skunk, I started with a pattern for a skunk on all fours. After some time and several muslin pieces I ended up with a standing skunk! All the work I had done for the first skunk's body came in handy later, when I did my first dog (with obvious differences, but the concept was already there!).
desertmountainbearIt has been many years since I sat down and made a completely new pattern. I do constantly change the existing pattern bits and pieces at a time. If I want to change a head shape I do it on cheap fabric and see how it will work with existing body etc.
I do think experimentation is important and worth the time put in. I love Francy's clothesline full of body parts.
As far as defeat, I tried a two piece head pattern a few different times, adding darts, I finally threw in the towel. I think that was the only time. Usually I will not give up till I have it.
TC Folk OriginalsGood question, Jenny! Like Joanne, I use my existing pattern and make changes to it. I have about 6 different versions now. But when I am changing species, going from bears to dogs to rabbits, I start from scratch! And sometimes "scratch" can be a long, hard road! I begin with research and pictures of the animal I am attempting, then draw my own pictures with the idea of converting them into pattern pieces. Once I have my first go at the pattern, I make the animal out of paper towels. Changes to the pattern, then sew it again in very cheap fur. Changes to the pattern and make it out of good fur - sell or keep?? If sell, all is great and I put the pattern away for the next time. If its keep - changes to the pattern! You get the idea! Although I sometimes have to take a break from it and put it all away for a clearer thinking day (that day can be months away!), I seldom ever decide its a total loss! I feel the cheap critters are always good for sizing up accessories or clothing and on several occasions, I have had customers ask me for more clothing for a bear they have bought. It is always a good learning experience and I have learned many different approaches, techniques and improvements for bear making! I like Francy's clothesline. Mine just sit on selves and sometimes get lost in the background!
Well I am always redesigning. I make new patterns all the time. But I redid my rabbit pattern this weekend and to say it was horrible is an understatement...it looked like it had been run over. So I went back to the drawing board and re-drew it..I have now stuffed the head and it looks nice but I can never tell till I have the eyes in and started to scissor sculpt. This one is harking back to my old rabbits...ie not needle felted .
But one head landed in the bin after about 3 hours...I just decided I wasn't getting anywhere near the look I was after and no matter what I did it wasnt happening so its pointless wasting more time.
So maybe I am impatient but I just think I get these patterns in my head which I think might work but they just don't.
So rather than mess around for hours on a fruitless exercise I am afraid I do stop myself nowadays...I can't keep wasting time. But I did learn from it....that the gusset was way too wide and mAde the rabbit look like ET!
BatFinch BearsThis is interesting, I have a half written blog post about basically this. I decided to ramble about patterns and how I deal with new designs and so on (though it's still super rough so no publishing yet!)
Now to actually answer your post 
I tend to just iterate my patterns, I take my old one scan it or redraw it and then just change bits, exaggerate features, thin it out, fatten it up etc etc..
Once in a while (Though I've maybe only done this three times? I'm still new!) I just jump in and draw a pattern from scratch - usually this entails a few mishaps, and I'm too impatient so I've gone straight to mohair with two of them, one was not like a normal bear at all so I tested it in scrap cotton first as it was to be a present!
Little Bear GuyI think if your trying to redesign the head Jenny that it takes a lot of playing around and tweeking. It's something that maybe you work on for a bit and set it down and then pick it up later on. I find when you spend to much time on something and it's not working out and you just become frustrated, if you put it down and leave it for awhile then go back at it with a clear head then issue or problems with it just jumps out at you. I think redoing a head has to be one of the hardest things to do and it does take time. So sometimes just put it down and walk away and then a day or two later just go back to it.
I would have picked it up again if thought it had potential...but I don't see the point in flogging a dead horse ..well not on that head..it was too horrible!!
I am not sure about trying on other fabric than I am eventually going to be working on. Two reasons for me..one is that the pattern might work great on the cheap fabric but not on the mohair..I find I get very different results from one fabric to another ...and the other is that if it works out I would want to carry on to finish the bear. Sometimes I make a mock up just to establish shape but I have to say that's rare for me. I think I just dive in most times...not good at taking it steady!!
THis is something I do at least 4 or 5 times a year. I try to wait for a time when I'm feeling strong and curious. Designing a new pattern is HARD work and you can't let the frustrations overwhelm you. I tend to work in a realistic style. That's good in that I can create a clay head sculpture more easily using photos. Hard in that there is a lot of subtle detail in the look of a realistic design. I can more easily draft a pattern using a clay model. (Sort of like using a mannequin while designing clothing) I always work in the same material as I will be using. But I do tape together and take apart the pattern pieces as I work to get some kind of idea what the shape will be. If I get stuck I stop! For some reason if I sleep on a problem, frequently, I have the answer when I wake up. It can take a long time. My original cat design took me almost a year of design and experiments with detail before I thought it was good enough for showing. Now I have more experience with patterning and a new design takes me about a month.
Karen
KJ Lyons Design
I pretty much always start from scratch when I do a new pattern. New patterns are always so much more exciting to work from . Though I remember one time I designed a new pattern, wasn't keen on the head after I'd sewn it up, so designed what I thought was a different head side piece- only to compare the two once cut out and find they were practically identical, as in I might as well have traced the original
I'm in your camp Jenny with making the new patterns up in fabric I can carry on and use the prototype in a finished piece. Rarely are new patterns so disastrous I can't at least finish the first bear and tweak the second. The 4 piece head adventure is the exception lol, my first 4 piece head was interesting shall we say
Probably helps too that most of my bears are smaller and I'm not risking a lot of long pile mohair. I figure the time I'd lose not using the prototype head is worth more than the fabric.
My thing at the moment is working with wider gussets...with a more streamline head side with a less noticeable muzzle. I think I have it now but I tried it on a rabbit pattern with disastrous results. I hate to admit that for me the most important part of pattern design is the head and I spend much more time on that. However for some of the 'friends' that I have done such as the little puppies etc they do take much more thinking about and then I have made a felt mock up to see how the pattern works.
I am always fiddling or tweaking with pattern pieces especially the head rather than do a completely new pattern as I like what I have I tend not to mess around with prototypes or scrap fabric - will always use mohair and if I stuff up then that's just too bad - sorry ladies but if that happens then it gets kicked into the garbage bin! An expensive exercise I know but I can't go back and redo something - just doesn't feel right and I've lost interest and need to move on - I've always been that way with things 
I agree Lyn...I can't do mock ups ....whenever I do it in the proper fabric after doing a mock up in felt it never looks the same.
Like I say I do make a mock up for the more mechanical designs ...like things on four legs that need to move realistically ..but generally I go straight to the final fabric.
I have to say I don't loose more than scraps if I do go wrong..I can usually salvage most before they go in the bin!
