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Care & Repair
A drape
can outlive
a generation.
If you wash it kindly, store it carefully, and mend it gently — your great-grandmother’s Benarasi will become your daughter’s. Here is how.
A wooden box.
Neem leaves.
Muslin.
That is all a silk needs.
Neem leaves.
Muslin.
That is all a silk needs.
01 · Care
By fabric.
| Fabric | Wash | Dry | Iron | Store |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cotton handlooms |
Cold hand-wash, mild detergent (Ezee, Genteel). First 2–3 washes separately. | Line-dry in shade, never direct sun. | Damp iron at medium. Iron on reverse for printed pieces. | Folded flat in cotton wraps. Refold every 3 months along different lines to prevent crease tears. |
Silks (Benarasi, Kanjivaram, Chanderi) |
Dry-clean only. We can recommend two trusted dry-cleaners in Delhi NCR. | Never machine-dry. Air on a wide hanger out of light. | Steam-iron on low. Place a muslin cloth between the iron and zari work. | Wrap in muslin, store flat in a wooden box with neem leaves. Never plastic. |
Jamdani · fine cottons |
Hand-wash cold, no rubbing. Salt in the first wash to set colour. | Lay flat on a clean towel. | Low heat, on the reverse, while still slightly damp. | Hang on a wide padded hanger, away from light. Refold direction every 6 months. |
Block-printed (Ajrakh, Bagru, Kalamkari) |
First wash separately, cold water + 1 tbsp salt to set the natural dyes. | Shade-dry, inside out. | Medium heat on the reverse. Steam helps revive the print. | Folded in muslin. Some colour transfer is normal — keep away from white storage. |
Tie-dye (Bandhani, Leheriya) |
Hand-wash, single piece, cold water. Dyes can run for the first 3 washes. | Flat-dry, never wring. | Low heat, reverse side. Do not stretch the knots flat — they are part of the texture. | Refold gently to preserve the puckered texture. |
The seven rules
If you remember only seven things.
01
Never hang a heavy silk — it tears at the shoulder over time. Fold flat.
02
Refold sarees every 3–6 months along a different line. Crease lines crack the fibre.
03
Wrap silks in muslin or pure cotton. Never plastic. Plastic suffocates fibre.
04
Wash a new piece separately for the first 3 washes. Dyes need time to settle.
05
Iron on the reverse for any printed or embroidered piece. Always.
06
Neem leaves or cloves in storage repel insects without chemical smell.
07
Direct sunlight fades natural dyes irreversibly. Always shade-dry.
02 · Repair
When something goes wrong.
Most damage is fixable. Here is what to do — and when to write to us.
A snagged thread
Do not pull. Push the snag to the reverse side gently with a blunt needle, then iron flat. We can fix this for free if the piece was bought from us.
Zari has tarnished
Common in pieces stored damp. Take to a karigar in Karol Bagh or Chandni Chowk for re-zari work — usually ₹400–800 per saree. We can introduce you.
Colour bleed beyond expected
Soak in cold water with 1 tbsp salt + 1 tbsp white vinegar for 30 mins. If still bleeding, send a video to us — likely a dye-fixing issue we will replace under our bleeds-beyond-expected promise.
Edge fraying
Stop wear immediately, take to a tailor for a kucha border (a fine running stitch along the selvedge). Costs ₹150–250 and adds years of wear.
A hole or burn mark
Rafu (invisible darning) by a master karigar can save almost any piece. We have a list of three darners across Delhi who do museum-grade work. Email us a photo.
Want to repurpose an old piece
A cherished but worn saree can become a kurta, a dupatta border, a quilt, or kantha-stitched into something new. We work with karigars who specialise in heritage repurposing.
We stand behind
every thread we sell.
If a piece from Teevra develops a problem that shouldn’t have happened — a dye that bleeds beyond normal, a thread that breaks within the first month, a print that fades with regular care — write to us. We will sort it.
We are not a platform. We know every piece we sell. We know who made it and what it should do. If it doesn’t, that is our responsibility to fix.
— Teresa & Vrinda
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