I started this year by making a teddy bear for someone very dear to me. It has been a long time since I made a bear, and I did not expect it to take too long, so of course, it has taken me about twice as long.
Still, I am very glad that I started with the bear first and not any of the doll projects in my head for a few reasons.

1. The bear will be done first, so my dear one will get it sooner.
2. I learned a lot about how my approach to crafting has changed.
3. I (re)learned important lessons about planning a project.

Reason #1 is pretty self-explanatory. Because I was working on the bear while I was waiting for my tools and supplies to come in, I did not not have any other projects to distract me so the turn around time was pretty good.

Reason #2 requires a little backstory. The last time I made dolls and bears was when I was a teenager.  Back then, I had no patience for fine detail or finishing. By that point, I just wanted to get it done already! Of course, the end result often looked sloppy or did not hold last long. At the time I was making those things, I did not expect them to last long. However, when I decided to get back into dollmaking, I rounded up all my old dolls and took photos. It was so amazing and weird to see that these items I made still existed after 10 or more years. It was also appalling to see how poorly some of them have aged!

The upside is that, when I was constructing the bear, I was thinking about things like finishing and durability. Since, I had done this kind of thing before, I was also able to think about assembly and plan ahead, which saved me a lot of grief. There was still some grief. I was working with velvet, and it was slippery and required much pinning and basting so that the pieces would not slip on my sewing machine (which is new-to-me and runs like a dream). Even then, there were still a few limbs that had to be unpicked entirely and I made a few mistakes, but I am very happy with the end result. It looks handmade, and definitely has personality, but it is not sloppy and it feels solid.

What did I learn about general project planning?

1. To realistically assess the amount of time a project requires,  I should take the amount of time I think it should take me to a particular step and multiply it by 2. That is how much time it will take to do it the right way. Then, I should multiply that number by 2 to allow for mistakes, interruptions, illness, etc.
2. Think ahead. How are the pieces going to attach to one another? How are you going to finish the pieces? Does that require any special prep work? When will that kind of thing be easiest? (Hint: the answer is not when I am almost done and I have everything neatly detailed and all the fussy bits in place)
3.  Always have extra on hand: extra thread, extra needles, extra fabric, extra hardware bits, etc. I will lose, miscut, run out of, or break something in the middle of a project, and I will waste time trying to hunt down, repair or replace it. Never, in any of my artsy adventures, have I ever said "oh, I bought too much/many of that."
4. Shallow, small storage containers are my friend. "In the bottom of one of those big bins" is the worst location for a small tool or piece.
5. Quality tools all the way. I have tools that I bought for a few corset projects that were quite handy for this teddy bear. As did my pliers. I was ever so glad that I had them on hand and that they survived even me (possibly mis-)using them.