How I Drape a Heavy Silk Saree

Heavy silk is a different garment from the cotton most of us learn on. It holds a shape beautifully and it punishes a lazy foundation. This is the drape I use for Banarasi and Kanjeevaram silks that has to survive a full evening and a camera.

Everything rests on the petticoat

A loose petticoat means a drape that slides all night. The waistband should be firm enough that the weight of six yards of silk hangs on it without dragging it down, and the length should be exactly right for the heel you are actually wearing.

Order of work

• Tuck the plain end firmly all the way around, keeping the lower edge level with the floor.
• Set the pallu length first, over the shoulder, before making a single pleat.
• Pleat the skirt last, five to seven deep pleats, evenly, and tuck them together rather than one at a time.
• Pin the pallu at the shoulder from underneath so no pin shows.

Setting the pallu before pleating is the step most people reverse, and it is the reason so many drapes end up with an uneven hem.

Heavy silk does not drape. It is arranged, and then it stays arranged.

Pleats want depth, not quantity

Thin pleats collapse under weight. Deeper, fewer pleats hold their edge and photograph as clean vertical lines rather than a crumpled front.

Pinning for a long event

Three pins, no more. Shoulder, waist where the pleats meet, and one discreet pin holding the pallu against the blouse so it stops travelling. Any more than that and the saree stops moving like a saree.

Walking in it

Take slightly shorter steps than you think, and lift the pleats a little with your left hand on stairs. It is not delicacy, it is physics, and a hem caught under a heel is the only real hazard of the whole garment.