All About the Gorgeous Saree - Part 3

Let's get straight to the continuation of my previous post in this series....

Border and Pallu

The border and pallu of the saree play a significant role in making the saree look perfect for any given occasion. If you plan to wear the pallu un-pleated, make sure you've got a great pallu. If there is little or no design on the pallu, you may consider wearing it pleated, although it cannot be considered a rule-of-thumb. The photo below shows a pallu with minimal design and this looks great with a perfect pleat at near the shoulder.

However, if you've got a great pallu design, then as a rule-of-thumb, leave the pallu unpleated. The dramatic pallu in the below photo looks great because it's left un-pleated. Had this been pleated, the beautiful artwork in the pallu would have gone unnoticed.

So those are pretty much the 3 most important tips while picking up your saree. Now let's quickly touch the subject of Saree Care.

Caring for Your Beautiful Silk Saree

Traditionally, most Indian women own atleast a couple of silk sarees. In the southern part of India, no wedding is complete without a silk saree as most south Indian brides clad themselves in costly silk sarees for their D-Day. Having said that, it is critical to care for their high cost saree, especially if it is their wedding silk.  In India, the wedding dress of the bride is a gift from the groom, that means a lot more sentiment is attached to the saree. Thus traditionally, women have cared for their sentimental saree. Here are quick and easy ways to take care of your saree.

Indian Bride in Traditional Silk Saree

• Never wash your silk saree on a machine or by hand. If you must clean your silk saree, go to a dry cleaner who knows how to clean a silk saree. 
• If you hardly wear your silk saree, remember to at least open the silk saree fully and change the folds the next time you store. When you keep folding the silk saree the same way and keep in storage for a long time, the folded area of the silk become weak increasing the chances of a tear. Unfolding and folding the silk differently ensures that the entire saree is equally strong. Unfolding and folding can be done once in 3 or 6 months. 
• If you do not plan on dry cleaning due to a short period of wear, spread the saree in a dry place for 3 to 4 hours and then store in a clean dry place. This ensures that any water/sweat in the saree dries before being stored. 

This series on Sarees comes to an end here. There are a whole lot of other things about sarees but they aren't something we need to know for a rare use of sarees. If you need to know anything more about sarees, leave a comment here and I will be sure to clarify it for you. My next series of post will be titled Mystical Mehendi - a series on Henna art. Till we meet again - Vanakkam!