Indian Sari How to Wrap a Sari

There are hundreds of different ways to wrap an Indian sari. ranging from practical to extremely elegant. One of India's most elegant, flattering, and easiest ways is the Bengali Drape, with two large pleats in the front, with the pallu of the sari draped twice over the torso. To make the Bengali Drape, start at the right hip. Make sure the bottom border is the right length, just touching the top of your feet. Draw the cloth around you from right to left keeping the bottom border at an even level all around and tuck into the waistline. Keep wrapping around the body back to the right hip and make a fold for the first pleat, reverse the fabric and bring it back over to your left hip, then again reverse the fabric and draw it back to your right hip. Hold the two front pleats up until they are level with the first wrap of sari underneath and tuck neatly into the waistline. The pleats should fall straight from the hip line down. Take the top border of the sari and place it on your left shoulder. Grasp the top border midway between the waist and shoulder pull the sari out in front of you until there enough length to wrap around to your mid back. Gathering a couple inches together make a knot. The position of the knot might need to be adjusted to get just the right drape. You want the front fold coming from the knot to be a fall at a nice straight angle. Drape the pallu over the left shoulder, with just the very end corner going over the shoulder. The bottom border falls in a straight line down from the left shoulder. To keep it in place, the tradition has been to tie the house key to the end as a weight. There is a book available called Saris: An illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping features over 80 different draping styles explained and illustrated with easy to follow instructions. Check out this website for many other styles of sari wraps, and a link to purchase the book. http://www.sarisafari.com/howtowear.html