I have the pleasure of Pattern Testing for Mari-Liis and I’m over the moon with happiness, as this is a dream come true for me . Lilleliis is one of my top favourite amigurumists/designers and I’ve loved her work for a long time, I own all her books and it means more than words can say that she asked me of I’d test for her .

I’ve been asked to test her Birthday Bear Pattern and it felt like it was meant to be as I love teddy bears, I even collect them and so to be testing a Teddy Bear pattern for her is amazing. I’d happily test any of her designs of course, it just felt extra special that my first test for her was making a teddy bear .

For this test I’ll also be using 100% Cotton yarn, in the same yarn weight and the same hook size as the pattern. I have chosen similar colours to her pattern within the yarn range colourways I have available, and below is the colour chart for the pattern and what yarn I used for each one as I thought you might find this useful;

Three Bears Yarn - Passion DK 100% Cotton

• Colour A - Cream
• Colour B - Beige (currently not available online, I’d suggest using Fawn as a replacement or using white)
• Colour C - Salmon
• Colour D - Pale Sky
• Colour E - Pale Honey
• Colour F - Rust

Please note for the candle I had to use another yarn, the only reason for this was because I had no Optic White in my stash (that I could find), as if I had I would of made this Bear in the same yarn for everything.

I choose the best closest match possible for the candle so it wouldn’t look different to the main yarn from looking at it, this meant I used this yarn for all colours required for the candle otherwise you would of been able to see the slight difference in yarn thickness.

DMC Natura Just Cotton

• Colour B - Ivory (off white)
• Colour E - Tournesol (yellow)
• Colour F - Noir Black (Original colour in pattern is brown but I didn’t have this shade so I choose an alternative)

For the face details (eyebrows and nose) I used Scheepjes Maxi Sweet Treat, label says Maxi Bonbon.

•••• Pattern Notes ••••

Still awaiting the ribbon for the Bear’s collar as I couldn’t get it locally like I thought. I’ve ordered one online that I’m hoping is going to be perfect for the job and be the perfect finishing touch.

When I made the cake and got to the part of decorating it I used the smallest buttons I had in stock. Rather than trying to sew them on which would be very fiddly I decided to use fabric glue instead. If you want to decorate them with Buttons too I’d suggest gluing them down too, however if you want to sew them down I’d suggest doing this before sewing the glazing/candle section onto the cake as I think you’ll find it a lot easier to do it then than later .

If I made the cake again I think I might try adding some crochet beads as the decorations for the cake. I’d do this by adding the crochet beads as I crochet the glazing part for the cake as I think using this technique would work really well.

•••• What I thought of the Pattern ••••

This pattern is easy to follow throughout with great written instructions and regular photos so you can see what your doing and how it should look. You shouldn’t have any problems making this pattern as she (the designer) has done a brilliant job.

As for the pattern design, I absolutely love it and I couldn’t be happier with it. The Teddy Bear has an adorable character to him and it’s hard not to resist his cute little face, which only gets even more adorable once you add his party hat on . The birthday cake is great too, it’s really cute and the perfect finishing touch. It would even make a great project on it’s own, just like the Birthday Bear would too - they do make a great pair though!

I honestly couldn’t rate this pattern highly enough, from the design to the written pattern. It’s beautifully done and exactly what you’d expect from a Lilleliis pattern .