Designer Embroidery: When It Is Worth the Money and When It Is Not

Woven work and embroidered work are priced similarly and are completely different propositions. A woven Banarasi's pattern is structural — it is the cloth. Embroidery is added on top afterwards, and how it was added is the whole question.

The four checks

1. Look at the back. Hand embroidery has visible, slightly irregular thread work on the reverse. Machine embroidery has a flat backing and a regular bobbin stitch. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you are paying for.
2. Check whether it is stitched or stuck. A great deal of "embroidery" is glued sequins and stones. Run a thumb across it: stitched work catches slightly, glued work is smooth and will start shedding within three wears.
3. Density near the pallu end. Work that thins out where the pallu falls is work done to a budget. It shows in photographs, which is precisely where you do not want it to.
4. Lift it and let it drop. Heavy surface work on a light base makes a saree hang badly — it pulls in patches rather than falling. This is the single most common expensive mistake.

The types, roughly by durability

• Zardozi and aari — hand work with metallic thread, genuinely valuable, ages well.
• Thread embroidery (resham) — durable, and reads as considered rather than flashy.
• Sequin and cutdana — fine when stitched, poor when glued.
• Applied lace and patch borders — the cheapest to produce and the first thing to look tired.

When it is worth it

When the base fabric is good. Real embroidery on a good tissue or georgette base is a saree that lasts a decade. Elaborate work on a poor synthetic base is money spent on something that will look wrong in two seasons — and the base is far easier to judge than the work.

When to buy woven instead

If it is going to be your one serious piece, buy woven. Banarasi, Kanjivaram, Katan. Woven work cannot come off, cannot shed and does not date the same way.

Buy embroidered when you want something for this season that looks like more than it cost, which is a completely legitimate thing to want. See designer embroidery and tissue embroidery sarees.

The six-day plan puts the woven piece on Ashtami and the embroidered ones everywhere else.