The fascinating thing about Sari is that it is the most preferred clothing for all generations of Indian women. Even the most modern fashionista among Indian women will have at least one sari (or several) in her wardrobe. The grace and feminine elegance that the sari lends to a woman’s body makes it a favorite in spite of the inconvenience of wearing it and then the trouble of maintaining it.
Here are some no-nonsense tips that most sari users will already know and can be used as a refresher for washing and caring for a saree.
Do not wash often
Most sari connoisseurs do not wash/dry clean saris frequently, unless it is very soiled; especially silk sarees. If they find any stains or dirt, they just spot clean the dirt carefully. You can find a list of commonly found stain removers – you will find all the ingredients needed in your house.
You will have to check that the stain remover will not damage the fabric of your sari by doing a test on the inside portion of the sari first.
Take care not to get a silk sari stained – this is the best advice I can give. Stay away from liquids like curry; even spraying of perfumes can stain silk.
Use only mild detergent to wash the saris.
Many people use mild Shampoos or baby shampoos for washing saris.
If possible, hand wash all saris; Chiffon and Georgette sarees can be machine washed in a delicate cycle but hand wash is preferred. There are many delicate fabrics like voile saris with embroidery work, chanderi saris etc which will never survive the tumble inside a washing machine.
Even Silk saris can be hand washed unless specifically mentioned in the care label to be dry cleaned. Dry cleaning maintains the pristine pure shiny look of silk, though. Even if you mean to hand wash silk saris, do the first wash with the dry cleaners.
If hand washing silk, never use a fabric cleaning brush, hard agitation, or wringing. Wash in plain water when washing for the first time. For the subsequent washes, you can use baby shampoo.
You can find more tips on silk care here.
Wash sarees one at a time rather than putting all of them in a bucket and attempting to wash them all at once.
You can also use soap nuts as a chemical-free laundry detergent – tie 3-4 in a muslin bag and soak in hot water and use this solution to wash the saris. It will condition your sari to perfection.
If you find that your sari has oil stains from curries and such, sprinkle some baby powder and leave for some time; the powder will absorb the oil. You can dust off the powder after some time.
Do not use 100% dryer for drying the saris.
Even in an emergency. Do not use even the partial dryer drying for silk saris and cotton saris.
Line dry, ensuring that the whole sari is stretched without any bunching anywhere – the crinkles and bunches that remain when wet leave wrinkles when dry.
If line drying, avoid hanging it directly under the sunlight. Get somewhere with shade so that sunlight does not fade colors.
Soak in salt solution
Color bleeding and color fading are all problems with sarees. To ensure colorfastness in cotton saris, an old trick is to soak the cotton saris in a salt solution (preferably rock salt) for about 10 minutes before regular washing. This will prevent the bleeding of excess dyes.
This is only good for saris that don’t have dark contrasts. They are to be treated cautiously – better to dry clean the first one or two times to prevent colors from latching onto the adjacent areas. Sarees with zari borders and threadwork are better dry-cleaned always.
Hang after each wear
After wearing the saris, if you are not washing it, immediately hang it out in the shade to dry any perspiration, moisture, etc., and then only store it inside the wardrobe.
Change folding often
Folds are always a boon and a problem for sarees. They look so good folded and stacked neatly inside a wardrobe. If the folds are left like undisturbed, the sari will start to disintegrate near the folds – slowly but surely.
So if you have many sarees and only wear a few of them for a long, long time, make sure that you change the way they are folded at least twice a year.
When storing beadwork saris or sequin work saris, do not fold them right sides together; the beads will rub against each other and tangle and then come off – if one comes off, the others will follow soon.
Do not store saris in plastic covers
Especially, sarees made of natural fibers like cotton and silk. Otherwise, mildew spots may develop on the saris. Use tissue paper to wrap the saris or store them in fabric sari bags. Sari bags are made out of thin cotton cloth.
Each sari is preferably kept in a separate sari bag. Keep cotton, and silk sarees separate, at least.
Never use newspapers to wrap saris; the dyes on newsprint will latch onto the sari.
Do not keep naphthelene balls near saris
You may want to get rid of bugs inside your wardrobe with some naphthalene tablets – but ensure that these do not touch the sari fabric – for one, the sari will reek of the horrible smell of these balls forever, and worse, the chemical in them can destroy sari fibers.
Some naphthalene balls leave permanent stains – a faded colored stain. So no naphthalene balls anywhere in contact with the sari, please. Keep them covered in thin fabric.
Check out this post on keeping the clothes inside your wardrobe fresh and smelling good here.
Add hem-fall
The hem of the sari, which touches the ground, is usually protected with an extra fabric added inside the hem. It is usually hand-stitched carefully to the inside of the hem – this is a must for silk saris and delicate saris unless you accidentally want the hem to rip off at the hem with wear and tear.
Starch your cotton saris
Starch is somewhat of a prerequisite for good-looking cotton saris. You can find some home made starch recipes here. The right amount of stiffness on a crisp sari can make the wearer look elegant- but too much is also unnecessary.
If you are using store-bought liquid starch, use as instructed in the leaflet/cover or add dilute 15 ml liquid starch into two mugs of water and can soak the sari for some time.
Dry thoroughly in sunlight after using starch – without any bunching up. To remove wrinkles, you can steam press or press with hot iron after sprinkling some water.
If you want to starch expensive silk saris, better get it done at professional drycleaners who do the starching. If you do it wrongly, it can ruin the look of the sari.
Related post : How to wash silk clothes; List of Sarees; How to wash zari fabric; how to take care of your clothes.
Can i use mesh bags to store sarees instead of cotton covers after placing tracing papers in between the saree folds. One bag for one saree.Also since i hardly wear these heavy worked sarees as i stay abroad, can i put them in luggage bag or it has to be in almirah?
Hi Lasla
The problem with storing in synthetic material is that the moisture will be trapped inside and cause mold and musty smell. You can store in mesh bags. Store with humidity absorbing silica gel packets