There is a short list of jobs that turn a length of cloth into a saree you can wear, and almost nobody in Canada explains them before you need them. Fall. Pico. Pre-draping. The blouse. Four separate pieces of work, done in a particular order, each with its own failure mode, and every one of them costing money you cannot get back.
This page is about that work rather than about choosing a saree. If you are at the choosing stage, buying a saree in Canada covers the purchase and buying a pre-draped saree in Canada covers the constructed version. Come back here when you have the garment.
The four jobs, in plain terms
Pico
Pico is the rolled hem that finishes the raw edge running the length of an unstitched saree. The edge is rolled over on itself, twice, very narrow, and stitched down. It is the least glamorous of the four and the one most often done wrong, because the obvious shortcut is to overlock the edge instead — a serged thread casing rather than a rolled hem. An overlocked saree edge is visible from across a room, it stiffens the fabric exactly where it needs to hang loose, and it cannot be undone without cutting into the width of the cloth. If you take one thing from this page: ask whether they roll or overlock, and leave if the answer is overlock.
Fall
The fall is a strip of fabric stitched to the inside of the lower border, usually along the last metre or two that ends up in the pleats and on the floor. It does two things: it gives the hem enough weight that the pleats sit and swing instead of flapping, and it takes the abrasion that would otherwise go straight into the border thread.
The craft point is the stitch tension, and it is where a general alterations shop goes wrong. The fall is attached with a loose running stitch, caught to the border rather than sewn tight against it, so the two layers can still move independently. Stitched taut — which is what a machinist used to hemming trousers will do by instinct — the border puckers, and the pucker only shows up once the saree is hanging on a body. You will not see it on the counter.
Pre-draping
Pre-draping converts a saree into a garment you step into: the pleats are formed and sewn down, the pallu set at a fixed point, and the whole thing attached to a waistband. It is the single biggest convenience in Indian occasion wear and the single biggest loss of flexibility. A draped saree has no size — the fit is made on the day by how it is wrapped. A pre-draped saree has a size, and the size is set by whoever did the draping.
The blouse
The blouse is the only one of the four that is a garment rather than a finish, and it is the one that decides whether any of the rest matters. It carries bust, underbust, shoulder, armhole and back width on one small piece with no ease anywhere, which is why it is the piece that fails.
The measurement that decides it is not on most charts: the distance from the shoulder seam down to the fullest point of the bust. A stitched blouse has its darts laid in at manufacture and the apex is fixed. Two people with the same bust circumference can carry that fullness at different heights, and when the apex sits above or below where your body is, the blouse does not gape or strain — it wrinkles diagonally from the underarm toward the centre front. That diagonal reads as a badly fitting garment in every photograph, and taking in the side seams does not touch it, because the problem is vertical. Our measuring guide covers the numbers that go on an order.
The order matters, and it is not the obvious one
Do them in this sequence:
- Blouse first. Fitted, adjusted, finished, worn.
- Pico and fall next, if the saree is unstitched. Both are edge work and neither depends on the body.
- Pre-draping last, and only after the blouse is right.
The reason pre-draping goes last is the one thing worth knowing before you book anything. A pre-drape is pinned and sewn to a waist and a torso — and the waistline a saree sits on depends on where the blouse ends. Lengthen or shorten the blouse afterwards and the drape's proportion moves with it: the pleats start in the wrong place relative to the hem of the blouse, and the midriff gap either disappears or doubles. Having the saree draped and then altering the blouse is the most common way to pay for the same job twice.
Hem length is set in the same session, and it is set to the shoes. Measure in the heel you will stand in at the venue, not the boots you arrive in — a hem set against a winter boot drags once you change, and dragging a worked border across a banquet floor is abrasion rather than a stain. There is no cleaning that back.
The clause that costs money
Section 5.5 of the Return and Exchange Policy is short and worth reading before you commit to any of this: alteration, petticoat, fall and pico, and pre-draping charges are non-refundable. Not reduced, not credited — non-refundable.
Two consequences follow, and neither is obvious.
First, finishing is a one-way door. On a garment that is still otherwise returnable, you can send the garment back and get store credit, and the finishing money stays spent. So the finishing should come after you are sure, not as part of the same transaction as the purchase.
Second, and this is the sharper one: pre-draping an unstitched saree does not only cost the pre-draping fee — it changes what the garment is. Section 1.4 excludes pre-draped sarees from returns, and section 1.2 excludes sarees with stitched blouses. A saree that arrives unstitched and returnable becomes, by the act of being finished, a saree that is neither. You are buying the convenience with the return right, and it is worth doing that deliberately rather than discovering it later.
Where this is done in the GTA
The honest version: a general alterations shop can hem a dress beautifully and still ruin a saree border, because the two jobs share a machine and nothing else. Saree finishing is a specialist skill, concentrated in the same narrow belt as the retail — Brampton, Malton and north Mississauga along Steeles, Airport Road and Gore Road. Outside that belt it thins out fast, which is why someone in Hamilton, Oshawa or Barrie is usually better off having it done at the point of purchase than finding someone locally afterwards. Buying Indian clothes in Hamilton and Burlington works through the same drive-or-order question for occasion wear generally.
Our Brampton store at 2575 Steeles Avenue East, Unit 9 is open eleven to eight, seven days a week, which is the practical answer to fitting a blouse appointment around a working week. Ask about finishing while you are there rather than assuming, and ask the pico question. Indian clothes alterations in Toronto covers the wider alterations question.
The option most people should take instead
Worth saying plainly, because it makes most of this page unnecessary for most buyers: the large majority of the sarees on this site are already drapes rather than lengths of cloth. Pre-draped, pre-stitched, drape skirt sets and saree gowns — which is why the collection is called Drapes & Saree rather than simply Saree.
On those, pico and fall are done, the pleats are sewn, the blouse is cut to the size you order, and the only decision left is the size itself. Fall and pico matter if you have an unstitched saree — a family piece, something bought in India, a length of fabric someone gave you. For a new purchase, the finishing is mostly already inside the price.
- Cream Jewel Satin Pre-Draped Saree Set and Midnight Navy Crystal Pre-Draped Saree Set — the warm and deep ends, both finished and ready.
- Noir Silver Embellished Pre-Draped Saree Set and Citrine Pearl Floral Pre-Draped Saree Set — evening and daytime respectively.
- Crimson Floral Crystal Draped Saree Couture Set and Champagne Emerald Jewel Draped Saree Couture Set — the more worked end, where getting the blouse right matters most.
- Deep Emerald Silver Floral Draped Saree Set and Midnight Black Sequin Ruffle Draped Saree Set — lighter in price and in weight.
If you would rather learn the traditional method and keep the flexibility, the step-by-step draping guide covers six styles with pleat counts and pin points.
Frequently asked questions
What is fall and pico on a saree?
Pico is the narrow rolled hem finishing the raw lengthwise edge of an unstitched saree. The fall is a strip of fabric stitched inside the lower border to weight the pleats and absorb the abrasion that would otherwise reach the border thread. Both are specialist finishes rather than ordinary hemming.
Can a regular tailor do fall and pico?
Some can. The two things to check are whether they roll the pico edge or overlock it, and whether the fall is attached with a loose running stitch rather than stitched taut. An overlocked edge cannot be undone, and a tight fall puckers the border once the saree is hanging.
Should I get my saree pre-draped?
Only if you are sure of the fit. Pre-draping sets a size on a garment that previously had none, and under the return policy a pre-draped saree is excluded from returns. It is a convenience bought with the return right.
Do I do the blouse or the draping first?
The blouse, always. The drape is pinned relative to where the blouse ends, so altering the blouse afterwards moves the proportion of the whole thing and means paying for the draping twice.
Are these charges refundable?
No. Section 5.5 of the Return and Exchange Policy puts alteration, petticoat, fall and pico, and pre-draping charges outside refunds entirely, even when the garment itself is eligible to be returned.
What length should the saree be hemmed to?
To the shoe you will stand in at the venue, not the boot you travel in. A hem set against a winter boot will drag once you change, and a dragged border on worked fabric is an abrasion problem rather than a stain.
Do I need a petticoat?
With an unstitched saree, yes — and a cotton one rather than a synthetic one for an Ontario winter, because forced-air heating builds a static charge that lifts the pallu. With a pre-draped saree, usually not: the skirt has its own waistband and lining.
How long does finishing take?
Ask at the time rather than assuming, and build it into the schedule rather than on top of it. For a wedding, four to six weeks from order gives room for delivery, a fitting and any blouse adjustment without compressing the finishing into the last week.
Where to look next
The full rail is in Drapes & Saree, with heavier evening pieces in Wedding Reception. For sizing, custom-size Indian clothes in Canada covers when to commission rather than adjust, and where to buy Indian clothes in Toronto and the GTA covers the retail belt itself. Sizes run 3XS to XL depending on the piece, with custom sizing available on request.
