Printed Saree Guide: Print Types, Fabrics, Blouses and Care
A printed saree is one whose pattern is applied to the surface of finished cloth, with carved wooden blocks, screens or a digital printer, rather than woven in with coloured yarn or stitched on with thread. That makes a print one of the easiest ways to wear pattern, and our printed sarees show the range: a small polka dot in mul modal works for the office, a floral on pure chiffon suits a farewell or a day wedding, and a dark ground print carries an evening party. This guide maps the main print families, explains how printing differs from weaving, dyeing and embroidery, and covers print scale, occasions, blouses, print quality and care by fabric.
What Makes a Saree Printed
There are four common ways to put a pattern on a saree, and shops often call all of them “print”. Printing applies colour onto chosen areas of finished cloth with a thickened paste or ink, so the colour stays inside the outline of each motif.
This matters when you shop, because the same look can come from different methods. Gingham is traditionally woven from dyed yarns, yet a gingham look can also be printed: our gingham sarees on pure chiffon, such as Slow Sunday and Sun Shower, are printed. Leheriya is a tie-dye craft from Rajasthan, but Rouge Waves is a leheriya print on pure chiffon, so you get the wave pattern on a fabric that flows. Stripes are often woven too, and our striped mul cotton sarees, such as Tokyo and Saturday, are not printed. Read “print” in a product name as a description of the look, and check the fabric and work details on the product page for how it was made.
Block, Screen and Digital Printing
Almost every printed saree is made in one of three ways. Each leaves its own fingerprints, though a skilled printer can blur the lines, so treat the cues below as tendencies rather than proof.
Behind these methods sit older techniques. In resist printing a paste of mud or wax blocks the dye, as in the dabu prints of Rajasthan. In mordant printing a fixing agent is printed first, so colour takes only where it was stamped, a step used in ajrakh and kalamkari. Sanganeri and Bagru hand block printing from Rajasthan, Bagh prints from Madhya Pradesh and the kalamkari of Andhra Pradesh are all registered Geographical Indications. Our hand block print saree guide covers dabu, Bagru, Sanganeri and how to tell block from screen print in depth.
Four of our sarees have hand block printed polka dots. Moonlit Pearl (white), Vintage Speckle (pink) and Dot Theory (brown) are mul modal with a 1 m running blouse piece, and Crimson Charm is red mul cotton with no blouse piece. Browse them in hand block print sarees.
The Main Print Families
Most printed sarees fall into a handful of families. Each says something slightly different, and most have their own detailed guide, so use this as a map and follow the link for the one you are wearing.
Floral prints
Florals are the most flexible family. On pure chiffon they turn soft and almost watercolour. Our floral pure chiffons include Veyona and Azura in blue and royal blue, Elysia in pink, Liora in yellow and Noxana in black. Vintage Wine and Florise add hand embroidery to a printed floral chiffon. Ground colour sets the mood more than the flowers do: pastels for daytime, brights for mehendi and haldi, dark grounds for evening. Our floral saree guide goes deeper into print scale, ground colour and how to tell printed florals from painted ones; for the painted kind, see the hand painted saree guide.
Polka dots
A dot is the simplest repeat there is, and the easiest print to wear to work. Small, close dots read almost as a texture from across a room; large, widely spaced dots feel retro and party ready. Our four hand block printed polka dots are on mul modal and mul cotton, and how to style a polka dot saree covers blouses, shoes and complete looks. Shop polka dot sarees.
Checks and gingham
Gingham is an even, two colour check, usually white with one colour. Our printed gingham sarees are pure chiffon: Slow Sunday in blue, Sun Shower in yellow, Fresh Bloom in peach and orange, and Rosy Skies in pink, all ₹3,999. Checks are often woven rather than printed, so check the product page; for gingham in breathable mul cotton, see gingham mulmul cotton sarees. For blouse rules and office looks, read how to style a checked saree and browse checked sarees.
Stripes
Stripes are mostly woven, especially in cotton and linen, because the lines come straight from the coloured warp or weft. A printed stripe can do things a woven one cannot, such as curve, fade or run on the diagonal. Our striped mul cotton sarees, such as Tokyo and Saturday, are not printed. The striped saree guide explains stripe width, direction and how stripes behave once draped; shop striped sarees.
Leheriya prints
Real leheriya is tie-dye: the cloth is rolled on the diagonal, bound at intervals and dipped, which leaves fine waves of colour. The name comes from the Hindi leher, a wave. A leheriya print copies that wave on the surface. Rouge Waves is our leheriya print, in pink on pure chiffon. Leheriya is widely worn for Teej and through the monsoon in Rajasthan, with green especially popular, though customs vary by family; see our Teej saree guide.
Hand block prints
From fine Sanganeri florals on white to the earthier grounds of Bagru, block prints carry small irregularities that are part of the charm, and may release loose colour in the first few washes. The block print guide explains the process and the first-wash routine.
Digital prints
Digital printing can put almost any image on cloth, including shaded gradients a block or screen could not manage. Quality depends on the fabric and the ink, so use the checks below, and follow the care label: digital prints can fade with repeated washing.
How the Fabric Changes a Print
The same design printed on two fabrics can look like two different sarees. Fabric decides how bright the colour reads, how sharp the outline looks and how the pattern moves when you walk.
So choose a print for the fabric as well as the design: a busy all-over print on chiffon softens into a haze from a distance, while the same print on cotton stays crisp. For more on each fabric, see what is a chiffon saree, mul cotton vs mul modal and what is a linen saree.
Print Scale and Proportion
Print scale is how large the motifs are and how far apart they sit. It changes how formal a saree feels and how it reads from across a room. What follows is styling convention, not a rule: wear the scale you feel good in.
Many stylists suggest matching scale to your frame, smaller prints for petite women and larger ones for taller women, but plenty of petite women wear big florals well, especially with the pallu pleated and pinned so the print falls in a long line. Contrast matters as much as size: a dark print on a pale ground looks bolder than the same motif in tonal colours. For draping and proportion ideas, read choosing a saree for your body type.
Printed Sarees by Occasion
A printed saree can go almost anywhere if the print, fabric and finishing match the setting. As a rough guide, smaller prints and matte fabrics read more formal by day; larger prints, darker grounds and fluid fabrics read more festive at night.
For party wear, pair a fluid chiffon print with a structured blouse, one statement piece of jewellery and heels. See our party wear saree styling guide and the cocktail saree guide for evening ideas, and building a work wardrobe in sarees for the office. Shop party wear sarees and office wear sarees.
Choosing a Blouse for a Printed Saree
The blouse decides whether a print looks considered or busy. There are three reliable routes, and the first one almost never fails.
A 1 m blouse piece covers most short and elbow sleeve designs; full sleeves often need more unless you are a smaller size, so show your tailor the piece first. For colour by colour pairings see saree blouse design ideas by colour, for chiffon cuts see chiffon saree blouse designs, and for blouse fabrics read the blouse fabric guide.
Jewellery and Five Complete Looks
With a print, the saree is already doing the talking, so choose one focal point. Earrings in a colour picked from the print, in plain metal, are usually enough; skip the necklace if the earrings are large. On chiffon, choose pearls, delicate gold and smooth pieces that will not snag the fabric. Our jewellery for saree guide has the full rules, and footwear for saree covers shoes and setting the hem.
Under any printed pure chiffon, wear a petticoat matched to the saree, or nude if you have no match, because shapewear alone shows through sheer fabric. More in what to wear under a saree.
How to Judge Print Quality, and Why Prices Differ
Two printed sarees can look identical in a photo and feel very different in your hands. When a saree arrives, open out a length of the body and the pallu in daylight and run through these checks before you take off the tags.
Price follows the fabric and the amount of handwork. Here is how our own printed range steps up.
Within the same fabric, hand block printing usually costs more than screen or digital printing, because every repeat is stamped by hand with a separate block for each colour, and the cloth often has to dry between colours. Fabric matters as much as method, which is why our printed pure chiffons sit above our block printed mul sarees. Hand embroidery adds more hours on top. If you are shopping on a budget, see the best sarees under ₹2,000.
Caring for Printed Sarees by Fabric
Care depends on the fabric and any work on top of the print, so always follow the product page. Here is how our printed range breaks down.
A common home habit is to soak a new printed cotton saree in salt or vinegar to fix the colour. Neither sets the dye in a finished fabric; what helps is simply rinsing out the loose dye. Washing it on its own in cold water for the first few washes does that job. For the full routine, read how to wash and store sarees.
Printed Sarees in This Guide
VeyonaBlue floral print pure chiffonPair with Navy, silver, white
AzuraRoyal blue floral print pure chiffonPair with Silver, gold, white
NoxanaBlack floral print pure chiffonPair with Gold, silver, black
AmarisLavender floral print pure chiffonPair with Pearl, silver, lavender
ElysiaPink floral print pure chiffonPair with Pink, pearl, gold
LioraYellow floral print pure chiffonPair with Antique gold, pink, white
JulietPink floral print pure chiffonPair with Gold, ivory, pearl
FlorinaBlue floral print pure chiffonPair with Silver, white, gold
Slow SundayBlue gingham print pure chiffonPair with White, silver, navy
Sun ShowerYellow gingham print pure chiffonPair with White, antique gold, yellow
Rosy SkiesPink gingham print pure chiffonPair with White, pearl, pink
Rouge WavesPink leheriya print pure chiffonPair with Pink, gold, white
Moonlit PearlWhite polka dot mul modal, hand block printed dotsPair with Black, red, navy
Dot TheoryBrown polka dot mul modal, hand block printed dotsPair with Ivory, gold, tan
See the full range in printed sarees, or narrow it down with floral sarees, floral chiffon sarees, polka dot sarees and chiffon sarees. Every saree is 5.5 m long and 45 inches wide, with no fall or pico done. Shipping is free across India on orders of ₹1,999 and above, we ship internationally, and cash on delivery is available. For more on individual prints, read the floral saree guide, how to style a polka dot saree and how to style a checked saree.
Questions People Ask
What is a printed saree?
A saree whose pattern is applied to the surface of finished cloth by hand block, screen or digital printing, rather than woven in or embroidered. Florals, polka dots, gingham and leheriya prints are the most common.
What is the difference between block, screen and digital print?
Block prints are stamped by hand with carved wooden blocks and show small variations. Screen prints push colour through a mesh screen and give identical, crisp repeats. Digital prints are applied by inkjet and can show fine shading and many colours.
How can I tell if a saree is hand block printed?
Look for slight variations between repeats, faint joins and, on fine cotton, colour that shows on the reverse. No single sign is proof, because a skilled print can imitate irregularity, so ask the seller too.
Should a printed saree have a plain or printed blouse?
A plain blouse in a colour from the print is the safest choice. Print on print can work if both share a colour family and differ clearly in scale, but keep checks and polka dots with a plain blouse.
Can I wear a printed saree to a wedding or party?
Yes. Choose a print on a fluid fabric such as pure chiffon, a darker ground or larger florals for evening, and dress it up with a structured blouse and one statement piece of jewellery.
Can I wear a printed saree to the office?
Yes. Small, close prints such as polka dots on a muted ground read polished, especially in breathable mul cotton or mul modal with a solid blouse.
Are gingham and checked sarees printed or woven?
Both exist. Gingham is traditionally woven from dyed yarns, but a gingham look can also be printed, so check the product page; our pure chiffon gingham sarees are printed.
Is a leheriya or bandhani print saree the real craft?
No. Real leheriya and bandhani are tie-dye techniques; a leheriya or bandhani print copies the look on the surface. Both are valid choices, they are simply different things.
Will a printed cotton saree bleed in the first wash?
Some loose colour can rinse out in the first few washes, especially from deep reds, blues and blacks. Wash it on its own in cold water; salt or vinegar does not fix dye once it is set.
Do small or large prints suit a petite frame?
Small and medium prints are the usual suggestion, but it is a styling preference rather than a rule. A pleated, pinned pallu lets larger prints fall in a long line too.
