Silk Saree Maintenance

How to keep the saree?

The saree should be stored in a cool, dry place.
Unfold your silk sarees and change the folding preferably every month.

Better to spread them on bed for 4 - 5 hours and then again fold them and keep them inside.

All silk outfits must be wrapped in muslin cloth or cotton bags.

Ensure minimal friction between the cloth and the embroidery when you fold embroidered outfits.

Silk outfits are best maintained if kept in a hanging position.

For wrinkle-free outfits, delicate handling is required.

Washing the Silk Saree

With proper care, silk can be well-maintained for years together.

Do not use soap for the first three washes. Gently rinse in plain cold water.

For the subsequent washes, use a mild detergent.
Wash the pallu, border and body separately.

Avoid washing the saree with inferior quality material or bright colours.

You can use a protein shampoo with warm/cold water.

The shampoo protein will feed the protein in the silk.

Avoid using chemicals – these may damage and reduce the lifespan of the silk.

Do not brush or lash the silk saree; it might lead to tearing the zari.

Avoid twisting or wringing the silk.

Do not bundle and keep wet for long durations.
If you dont want to wash the saree in soap you can use 'soap seeds' - boovandi kotai' in Tamil,
பூவந்தி கொட்டை and in Telugu 'kunkudu kai'

Take 12 - 15 soap seeds and put them in hot water for 15 min. remove seeds from them and use the water to wash the 'pattu saree' You will feel the saree is too soft after wasing it. YOu will get a good smell also.

Drying Silk (Pattu) Saree

After washing, the saree must be dried immediately.

First, roll the saree in a dry towel to remove the excess moisture.

Then, hang it on to a padded hanger.

Dont put the silk saree in direct sunlight.

You can put inside the room itself.

Dry - Cleaning

In dry-cleaning, fluids are used to remove stains from the fabric.

The fluids contain little or no water and do not penetrate the fibre as water does.

Dry-cleaning is the best way to care for silk, since the solvents used do not affect silk.

The following points must be kept in mind when taking your silk clothes to the dry-cleaner

Take the stained garment immediately and inform the nature of the stain

Be sure to indicate even the unapparent stains

Point out areas that have lost the colour / lustre, so that the dry-cleaner can restore them

Dealing with Stains

Firstly, wash with cold water immediately.

For hard stains, soak the stained area with petrol and brush with a soft cloth.

Stained silk must be dry-cleaned as soon as possible.

By rubbing acetone on the area, nail polish stains can be removed.

For lipstick stains, use dry-cleaning fluids, followed by washing soap and water.

Greasy stains can be removed by dabbing talc.

Once this is done, the talc should be brushed off and stain remover applied.

The stain can then be washed off in the hottest water possible.

For treating food stains like milk, ice-cream, chocolate, gravy, etc., use a dry-clean solvent.

By applying detergent and then washing off with cold water, the protein part of the stain can be removed.

After using a stain remover, it should be washed off in hot water.

Protein stains like blood, deodorant, egg, meat juices and perspiration can be cleared with detergent.

They should be soaked in cool water and laundered. If they persist, try rubbing a mixture of a few drops of Nh2 with hydrogen peroxide.