Care and cleaning of your sari
The saree is made to be worn and used, that's the joy of it, not keeping it in a box somewhere! Wear your sarees and look divine! So doing this, you will get dirt on them, and that's a good sign that the saree has made it's entry into your life. You will love washing your sarees, hanging them up on the line to get fresh in the breeze and seeing them all unfolded in their glory is great. They also transform when wet!
If you've bought a cotton sari it is most likely starched - you will need to wash out the starch (and probably a little of the inevitable Indian grime that got on it during it's creation and life in India.) You will be so amazed how soft and delicate the saree becomes after it's washed - you just will want to wear it to bed, it's so feathery soft!
How to Wash and Dry a sari
All new cotton sarees need to be washed before wearing.
Your brand new saree, fresh from its package might feel somewhat stiff. This is just the starch that applied to the sari during the weaving or coloring process. Often the starch is necessary to be able to work with very fine cotton threads or to make the cloth easier to handle for printing.
If the saree is highly starched it might take a few washings to get all the starch out.During the gentle agitation some color might bleed from the saree. This is normal, so don't worry about it. However, it is better to wash one saree at a time to prevent any bleed over.
When you are finished agitating, take the saree out of the water and gently squeeze out the excess. Do not wring the saree. Discard the wash water and refill the bucket with clear cool water.After a thorough rinsing, again gently squeeze out the excess water.Now it is time to take your saree for a spin!
Although you have squeezed quite a bit of water out of the saree, it is still too wet and heavy to hang on the line. You can take it for a little spin in your washer on the spin cycle for about 5 minutes.Now your saree is ready to be hung on a clothes line, preferably outside out of direct sunlight! To hang up first fold the saree in half. Give it a good shake as you are folding it to remove any wrinkles and kinks and hang it on the line.
While the saree is on the line, you can save yourself some ironing time by stretching it while it is still wet and straightening the grain of the cloth and borders. Make the fold over the line neatly, lining up the borders. Start from the top and grab the sari at the borders, gently stretching horizontally. Do this along the saree's entire folded length.
Now stretch the saree vertically as shown in the picture. Do this on both sides.
There, that is all there is to it! Let your saree hang until it is almost dry or slightly damp.
How To Iron A Saree
The best way to iron the saree is while it is still damp. If needed you can use a spray bottle to dampen the saree. Please note that some cotton sarees might have lurex or poly content threads in the border that could be damaged with too high of an iron setting. Test a small corner first before proceeding.
Before ironing the saree, fold it in half. Set your iron on medium to high for cotton. While ironing straighten the grain of the cloth and line up the borders on top of each other on either side. You can iron it single, but folding the saree in half makes it much faster to do! Most sarees are so thin that you can adequately iron both layers at once.
Advance the saree to the back of the ironing board until you have ironed the whole thing. If the back side is still wrinkled flip the whole go over it again lightly.
Double the saree once again lengthwise. The saree is folded in fourths now. Make sure the corners are all neatly lined up. And at this point line up the borders neatly on top of each other and press again.
Double the saree one last time lengthwise (see photo), fold this in half and again in half until you have a nice square.
Hand Washing Silk Sarees..
All sarees can be handwashed - what would they have done pre drycleaning? However you can easily damage the finish of some silks with washing or a too-hot iron. Crepe silks and heavy brocades should probably be dry cleaned to protect their finish.
Believe it or not, adding a little hair conditioner in to the rinse water helps soften the fibers back to the buttery fluff that silk is known for. Just a drop is all you need. Very heavy ornate sarees will not be worn so often, and hence will not need to be laundered so often - a very graceful thing.
Ironing Silks
Silks need to be ironed with caution. Crepe silks can lose their butteryness and get glossy if your iron is too hot. Try a test area on medium first. China silks don't mind heat. I always report the fiber content and if I think there are synthetic fibers in the sari. If it's not pure, make sure you use a cooler iron or you will have some "meltdown".
Removing stains from silk saris Indian ladies I've talked to swear that a little lime juice squeezed in the water is great at removing greasy spots from their heavy Kanchi silks. Make sure that the lime water is not too concentrated, it might fade the cloth.
Indian men, at least the dudes in the saree shops like to smelly and flammable gas to remove stains. Place a clean absorbent cloth on top of the stain and apply the gas in small dabs from the back. The stain flees into the cloth above it. You can buy this type of nasty smelling gas stuff (Energine) in most supermarkets. Just please make sure you've got good ventilation!
Folding and Storing Saris
The origami of sari folds.
When you get your sari first from Sarisafari it will be in the original fold that the weavers put it in, directly after taking it off the loom. There's an amazing variety of folds, some of which are so complicated that it takes quite a while to figure them out, sort of like a road map, but with less logic and more square footage. If you've purchased a variety of regional styles you've probably encountered some of these. The Madurai "accordion" fold or the Mangalagiri "taco" fold being some of the hardest to master, then there's the Orissan "double gate" which is surprisingly tricky!
After you've washed your sarees you will want them to be in an easy and convenient fold. Usually sarees are folded with the length in half first, with the right side out, then folded again and again in this direction until you have a strip of folded cloth about 13 - 15" wide and the borders on top and bottom.
Line up the two ends of the top borders. Pallu is facing up right side. Align the top borders until you get to the central first fold. Hold this corner in your right hand and reach over to the pallu end borders and place them together. Align the borders again until you get to the second central fold. Grasp the center fold in the left hand and bring the borders from the right hand over to make the third fold, repeat until you have the last fold which is 13 - 15" wide.
This you fold in half, putting the two borders together, slightly offset to reduce bulk, then fold that direction in half again to get a nice square shape. Don't ever fold the sarees along the length, you will get a nasty horizontal crease that will look like your "equator" when you drape the sari!
I learned alot watching the sari folders of India in action. They unfold sari after sari, literally tossing them out their full lengths to impress and dazzle the clientele. They have an abundant labor force just sitting around waiting to fold them all up again and what seems like a humungous mountain of cloth is magically and miraculously restored to order in a surprisingly short time.
Since I don't have 25 guys working for me and have to do all the folding and unfolding myself I can't quite get the same kind of drama going as these masterful hawkers, but the sarees are so beautiful that even a quarter unfolding leaves my patrons gasping and oohing to no end.
If you sit on the floor, and let the floor support the sari as you fold it you will get more even folds and the borders will line up.
Storing
If you have all your sarees folded in the configuration described above then you can make a neat little stack on a shelf in your closet, or in a storage box for under your bed. The two enemies of textiles are light and dust, so make sure that you have them properly protected. Cloth needs to breathe so storing in plastic is not recommended.
One easy and cost effective way to store them is to make a bundle out of out of an old bedsheet or some left over yardage. (Wash it in very hot water first to get it really clean) The cloth should be about 3 feet square. You can put the sari stack in the middle of it at a diagonal and then tie it into a loose bundle. Bundles are the way that sari merchants in India carry their wares. It weighs nothing, costs nothing and is easy to carry as the top knot is a convenient handle. This is how I transport my stock around to trunk shows.
Old pillow cases also work well as storage bags. Don't overpack or you will cause wrinkles and creases. Just put in two or three sarees in one pillow case and fold the flap over.
A cedar chest is great for sari storage. Many of my women friends in India let me peek into their sari storage chests, usually a galvanized steel chest with a lock. Most women like to store their wedding sarees and fancy silks folded up very tidily and secure in trunks like these. They are planning to hand on these sarees to their daughters. Bugs are a big problem in India, so at almost every fancy event there will be the aroma of moth balls.
Just like any fine textile, taking them outside for a dose of fresh air and dusting is always good for life extension. In very humid climates this is a must - to chase out musty odors and moisture. You can see pictures of my friend Bindu in Kerala airing out her sarees here. She will just leave them out for a few minutes every month or so, not letting them sit in direct sun for very long. If you have a shady place to do this, leaving them out to air for a couple hours is great.
