Black and White Citrines
This one is for all of you out there who prefer the neutrals. You patiently wade through post after post from this blog that appear to offer evidence that a crayon box and a clown car can mate and reproduce. You squint at my makes and try to imagine the pattern in navy or black, knowing that it makes way more sense to make a solid one than than something covered in, say, circus tent stripes or puffy clouds.
The truth is that while I truly love a colorful striped or colorblocked Citrine, the most practical ones in my wardrobe are solid, including these two. And I do wear them — easily more than the colorful ones!
I happily recognize the sensibility of neutral clothing items.
The white sweater knit Citrine is actually the first Citrine I ever made; it was a prototype for the pattern when I was designing it. The black jersey Citrine was made more recently to play around with combining views A and B. Between these two and my navy Citrine I can have just about every outfit covered (literally).
For the white one I used leftover fabric from my sweater knit Jade tee, which creates some great twinset opportunities (see pic at bottom of post).
The black Citrine is a combination of View A and View B of the pattern: the sleeves are view B and the body is View A. I also lengthened it by 1” so it’s longer than the pattern intends.
I’ll be honest, I’m still unsure about the length on the black one - I keep thinking maybe I’d like it more cropped? I might fiddle around with it a bit more. Current ideas are to trim the extra length off or recut the sleeves along the view A line so they’re more fitted. Sometimes it’s best if I just think of my handmades as WIPs, even when they look finished (note to self: maybe just stick to the pattern next time…?).
Both of these are made with lighter weight fabrics so I wear them both year-round; I also have a few other Citrines that are thicker and better suited to colder weather. Now that it’s cozy season again I’m looking forward to pulling them all out again and wearing lots of fall Citrine outfits!
Citrine is a sewing pattern designed for knits, and is available as a PDF in my shop. It comes in 14 sizes A-N (max bust 66”). You can see all of my Citrines, other peoples’ Citrines, and Citrine-related posts and tutorials on the Citrine Page.
