Care
How to keep it for twenty years.
Handloom outlasts almost everything else in a wardrobe, provided it is not treated like everything else in a wardrobe.
The first wash
- Dry-clean the first wash on any silk, and on anything with zari. After that, cotton can go in the bucket.
- Wash a new cotton sari alone. Natural dyes bleed on the first two washes, and they will find a white blouse.
- A spoon of rock salt in the first bucket helps set natural dye. It is an old habit and it does work.
Washing
- Cold water, by hand, and a mild soap — not detergent. Detergent strips natural dye faster than anything else.
- Do not wring. Press the water out between your palms, or roll the cloth in a towel.
- Never brush zari. The gold sits on a silk core and a brush cuts it.
Drying and storing
- Dry in shade. Direct Bengaluru sun will take the colour out of madder and indigo in a single afternoon.
- Refold along a different line every few months. A sari kept folded the same way for a year will split along the crease.
- Store silk in cotton or muslin, never plastic. Plastic holds damp and damp brings mildew, and mildew on silk is permanent.
If something goes wrong
Bring it in before you try to fix it.
A dye bleed or a pulled thread is usually recoverable if nobody has scrubbed it first. We do not charge to look, and we will tell you when it is beyond saving.