Sylvia Rivera

This pattern was made as part of a series of famous LGBTQ+ people I made to celebrate pride month. Sylvia Rivera was a was a self- identifying drag queen and gay/ trans rights activist who set up the charity STAR (street transvestites action revolution) along with her friend Marsha P Johnson. 

Difficulty:

Medium

You will need:

• A 2mm crochet hook
• A 2.5mm crochet hook
• dk yarn in tan and dark brown
• 4py yarn in yellow and black
• Embroidery thread in white, dark brown, black, and dark red
• Toy stuffing
• A darning needle
• An embroidery needle
• A small section of cardboard
• Sellotape
• Some hot water

Note: 

• This pattern includes the back-to-front single crochet stitch (bfsc). A video to show you how to do this can be found here. It's pretty simple but if you can't work it out you can just use a regular single crochet stitch, but this will give it a slightly different look.
• 'fasten off neatly' refers to a special way of fastening off which is neater and makes it easier to see where you should be crocheting on the next round (also known as invisible fastening off). This involves pulling up your yarn through your stitch, threading the yarn underneath the second stitch from where you pulled your yarn up, then threading your yarn back through the top of this stitch and down through the back of the work. There is a very helpful site that explains it clearly found here.

For the body: 
With tan make a magic loop with 6sc
Round 1: 2sc in each st (12sc)
Round 2: sc in the first st, 2sc in the next st, rep  to end (18sc)
Round 3: sc in the first 2 sts, 2sc in the next st, rep to end(24sc)

Rounds 4 - 9: (6 rounds) sc in each st (24sc)

Round 10: sc in the first 2 sts, sc2tog, rep to end (18sc)
Round 11: sc in the first st, sc2tog, rep to end (12sc)

Round 12: sc in the first st, sc2tog, rep to end (8sc)

Rounds 13 - 14: (2 rounds) sc in each st

Row 14.5: sc, slip1, ch1, turn

Row 15: bfsc4

Fasten off
Stuff firmly

For the arms (make 2):
With tan make a magic loop with 6sc
Round 1: sc in the first st, 2sc in the next st, rep to end (9sc)
Rounds 2 - 3: (2 rounds) sc in each st (9sc)
Round 4: sc in the first st, sc2tog, rep to end (6sc)
Round 5: sc in each st
Fasten off black yarn and fasten on grey yarn.
Rounds 6 - 9: (4 rounds) sc in each st (6sc)
Fasten off

Lightly stuff these arms and sew them to the sides of the body

For the legs (make 2):
With tan make a magic loop with 6sc
Round 1: 2sc in each st (12sc)

Round 2: sc in the first 3 sts, 2cs in the next st, rep to end (15sc)
Rounds 3- 4: (2 rounds) sc in each st (15sc)
Round 5: sc2tog 3 times, sc in the last 9 sts (12sc)
Round 6: sc in the first 2 sts, sc2tog, rep to end (9sc)
Fasten off. Fasten on in grey yarn
Rounds 7 - 11: (5 rounds) sc in each st (9sc)

Fasten off
Stuff the legs and sew them to the underside of the body

For the head:
with tan dk yarn ch4
Round 1: sc8 around
Round 2: (sc3, make 2sc in the next st) twice (10sc)
Round 3: sc4, make 2sc in the next st, sc3, make 2sc in the next st, sc (12sc)
Round 4: sc4, make 2sc in the next st, sc5, make 2sc in the next st, sc (14sc)
Round 5: sc5, make 2sc in the next st, sc5, make 2sc in the next st, sc2 (16sc)
Round 6: sc6, make 2sc in the next st, sc, make 2sc in the next st, sc7 (18sc)

Round 7: sc6, make 2sc in the next st, sc3, make 2sc in the next st, sc7 (20sc)

Rounds 9 - 13: (6 rounds) sc in each st
Round 13: (sc4, sc2tog 3 times) twice (14sc)
Round 14: sc2, sc2tog 3 times
Stuff firmly
Round 15: sc2tog 3 times
Fasten off

For the nose:
With a 2mm hook make a magic loop with 1sc. ch1, turn

Row 1: sc in this st. ch1, turn

Row 2: make 2sc in this st, hdc in the same st, then make a further 2sc in this st (5sts)

Fasten off

Sew this to the face

For the ears:

with a 2.5mm hook ch3

Row 1: make 2sc in the 2nd chain st from hook, then make 2sc in the following chain st (4sc)

Fasten off

Sew these to the sides of the head.

For the hair:

With a 2.5mm hook and dark brown dk yarn ch14

Row 1: sc in the 2nd chain st from hook, then sc in each of the next chain sts to end. ch1, turn

Rows 2 - 30: (29 rows) sc in each st. ch1, turn

Fasten off

Boil some water and place the crochet into a bowl along with the hot water. Remove and leave it to dry.

Once it is dry you should unravel this section and cut the yarn lengths into 13cm long strips (it should be 13cm long when unstretched, as shown below) 

After this you should attach this hair all over the head. Do so by folding each strand in half and then using a crochet hook to pull the folded end through a stitch in the head, fastening it by pulling the free ends through the loop created (as shown in the photos below)

Once you have covered the head, it should look as shown below:

For the eyes and mouth:

Before you embroider the eyes in place you should make the eye sockets by making a sew stitches through the head either side of the nose and pulling tightly.

Next embroider the whites of the eyes using white embroidery thread. 

The irises should then be added on top using brown embroidery thread, before the pupils are added using a single strand of black embroidery yarn in the centre. 

You should then use a single strand of black to embroider around the outside of the eye.

Next the eyebrows should be created using a single strand of brown embroidery thread.

Finally you should add the mouth using dark red embroidery thread.

For the dress:
For the skirt:

With a 2mm hook and yellow 4ply yarn ch32

Round 1: sc in each the first chain st you made, then sc in each of the following chain sts in turn to make a loop (32sc)

Round 2: sc in each st
Round 3: (sc in the first 7sts, make 2sc in the next st) 4 times (36sc)
Rounds 4  - 6: (3 rounds) sc in each st
Round 7: (sc in the first 8sts, make 2sc int eh next st) 4 times. ch1, turn (40sc)
Row 8: Bfsc2tog, bfsc36, bfsc2tog. ch1, turn (38sts)
Row 9: Sc in each st. ch1, turn
Row 10: Bfsc in each st. ch1, turn
Row 11: Sc2tog, sc7, make 2sc in the next st, sc9, make 2sc in the following st, sc9, make 2sc in the  next st, sc7, sc2tog. ch1, turn
Row 12: Bfsc in each st. ch1, turn
Row 13: Sc in each st. ch1, turn
Row 14: Bfsc in each st. ch1, turn

Row 15: sc in each st. ch1, turn

Row 16: bfsc in each st

Fasten off

For the bodice:

Rejoin yarn to the back of the first chain st you made (where the loose end is that you made when casting on)

Round 1: sc in the back of this chain st and in the back of the next 31 chain sts around (32sts)

Round 2: sc6, make 2sc in the next st, sc15, make 2sc in the following st, sc9 (34sts)

Round 3: sc in each st

Round 4: sc2, make 2sc in the next st, sc3, make 2sc in the following st, sc17, make 2sc in the next st, sc3, make 2sc in the following st, sc5 (38sc)

Round 5: sc in each st

Fasten off neatly

Rejoin yarn to the 11th st from this 'new' st you made when fastening off.

Row 6: sc in this st and the next 11 sts. ch1, turn (12sts)

Row 7: bfsc2tog, bfsc4. ch1, turn (5sts)

Row 8: sc in each of these 5sts. ch1, turn

Row 9: bfsc4, make 2bfsc in the next st. ch1, turn (6sts)

Fasten off

Rejoin yarn to the first st of row 6, as shown below.

Row 5: Sc2tog between this st and the next, sc4. ch1, turn

Row 6: bfsc in each st. ch1, turn

Row 7: sc4, make 2sc in the next st (6sts)

Fasten off

Rejoin yarn to round 5 to the 4th st from these last sections

Row 6: Sc in this st and the next 3sts, sc3tog, sc6, sc3tog, sc4. ch1, turn (16sc)

Row 7: bfsc2tog, sc12, bfsc2tog. ch1, turn (14sts)

Row 8: sc in each st. ch2, turn

Row 9: hdc2, ch1, bfsc10, ch1, hdc2. ch2, turn

Row 10: hdc2

Fasten off

Rejoin yarn to row 9 to the 12th st from this section you just made. ch2

Row 10: hdc2

Fasten off

Sew the shoulder seams together

For the sleeves (make 2):
With a 2mm hook and yellow 4ply yarn ch13

Round 1: sc in the first chain st you made, then sc in each of the next 12 chain sts to make a loop (13sc)

Rounds 2 - 9: (8 rounds) sc in each st
Row 9.5: Slip1, ch1, turn
Row 10: Hdc7. ch1, turn (7sts)
Row 11: Sc2tog, sc3tog, sc2tog. ch1, turn (3sts)
Row 12: Hdc3tog
Fasten off

Sew the sleeves to the armholes

For the belt loops (make 3): 

ch2

Fasten off

Sew these around the centre of the dress.You should sew one to the back and the other two should be added to the sides. You may wish to add more loops if you want the belt to be particularly secure.

To finish off the dress tie a length of yellow yarn around the centre, threading it through the belt loops as you do so.

For the tights:

For the leg sections (make 2):
With a 2mm crochet hook and black 4ply ayrn make a magic loop with 6sc
Round 1: make 2sc in each st (12sc)
Round 2: (sc, make 2sc in each next st) 6 times (18sc)
Round 3: (sc2, make 2sc in teh next st) 6 times (24sc)
Rounds 4 - 7: (4 rounds) sc in each st
Round 8: Sc2tog 4 times, sc16 (20sc)
Round 9: sc in each st
Round 10: Sc2tog 3 times, sc14 (17sc)
Round 11 - 18: (8 rounds) sc in each st
Fasten off neatly

To finish off: 
Rejoin yarn to the 3rd st before the 'new' st of one of these leg sections. 

Round 19: Sc in this st and the next 8sts. Sc in the 'new' st of the other section, then sc in the following 14sts, skip 2sts on the other leg section, then sc in the next 6sts (30sts)
Rounds 20 - 25: (6 rounds) sc in each st
Fasten off

For the shoes (make 2):

With a 2mm crochet hook and yellow 4ply yarn ch8

Round 1: sc in the 2nd chain st from hook, then sc in each of the next 5sts. Make 3sc in the first chain st you made, then sc in the back loop of each of the previous chain sts you crocheted into in turn. Make 2sc in the back of the first chain st you crocheted into (18sc)

Round 2: make 2sc in the first st, sc5, make 2sc in each of the next 3sts, sc5, make 2sc in each of the last 2sts (24sc)

Round 3: sc, make 2sc in the next st, sc5, (sc, make 2sc in the following st) 3 times, sc5, (sc, make 2sc in the next st) twice (30sc)

Fasten off neatly

Rejoin yarn to the 2nd st after the new st you made when fastening off neatly

Round 4: sc in the back loop of this st and the next 29sts (30sc)
Rounds 5 - 7: (3 rounds) sc in each st
Round 8: Sc7, sc2tog, sc4tog, sc2tog, sc9, sc2tog, sc2 (27sc)
Round 9: Sc6, sc2tog 3 times, sc10 (24sc)
Round 10: Sc in each st

Fasten off

For the heel:

With a 2mm hook and yellow dk yarn make a magic loop with 8sc

Round 1: sc in the back loop of each st

Round 2: sc in both loops of each st

Fasten off

Cut a length of cardboard 0.5cm wide and roll it up tightly until its measures around 7mm in diameter. Secure with sticky tape. 

Insert this into the heel, then sew the heel to the base of the shoe.

That's all for this pattern! I hope you have enjoyed it - if you haveany questions please don't hesitate to get in contact with me, either  Ravelry or Instagram page. My Instagram is also a good place to find out what I'm currently working on and find out when I post any new patterns.

You are very welcome to sell finished products, but I do ask that you don't re-post this pattern or claim it as your own. Thank you!!!