How to iron a saree

How to iron a saree

The best way to iron the sari is while it is still damp. If needed you can use a spray bottle to dampen the sari. 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 sari, 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 sari in half makes it much faster to do! Most sarees are so thin that you can adequately iron both layers at once.
Advance the sari 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 sari once again lengthwise. The sari 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 sari one last time lengthwise (see photo), fold this in half and again in half until you have a nice square.

Ironing Silks
    Silks need to be ironed with caution. Crepe silks can lose their butternuts 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 sari 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!