Multicolour Sarees Decoded: Woven, Tie-Dyed or Printed? How to Choose (2026)

A multicolour saree gets its colours in one of three ways: woven in with yarns dyed before they reach the loom, resist-dyed (bandhani or ikat), or printed onto the finished fabric. The method decides how the saree drapes, how it ages and what it should cost. The quickest test is to flip the pallu: if the pattern is just as strong on the back, the colour went in before or during weaving; if the back is visibly paler, it was printed. In our multicolour saree collection today, prices start at about ₹2,550 for mul mul cotton and reach about ₹6,200 for a woven Kanjivaram.

Three Ways Colour Gets Into a Saree

1. Woven multicolour

The weaver works with yarns that were dyed before weaving: a contrast body, border and pallu, sometimes with extra-weft motifs in two or three more shades. A multicolour Kanjivaram is the classic example. Its contrast border is traditionally joined to the body with the korvai interlock, so the colour change is a structural seam in the cloth, not a line of print. Woven colour looks the same on both faces of the body and doesn't fade unevenly.

2. Resist-dyed multicolour: bandhani and ikat

In bandhani, tiny points of cloth are pinched and bound tight with thread before the fabric goes into the dye, so every knot leaves a small undyed dot. A hand-tied piece keeps a slightly raised, crinkled texture where the knots were. In ikat, the resist happens one step earlier, on the yarn itself: bundles of thread are tied and dyed before weaving, and the pattern only appears as the threads cross on the loom. A true double-ikat Patola resist-dyes both warp and weft, which is why a genuine piece looks identical on both sides, and why it costs many times more than anything printed.

3. Printed multicolour

Digital, screen and block printing lay colour onto the surface of a finished fabric. That makes printed sarees lighter, more affordable and endlessly varied in design. The trade-off is a paler reverse side, and bright prints can soften after long spells of drying in direct sun. A "Printed Patola" is an ikat-look print, not a woven ikat, and our product names say so plainly. (Here's how we decode saree labels.)

The 10-Second Test Before You Buy

• Turn over the pallu. Equal colour on the back means woven or resist-dyed. A washed-out back means printed.
• Look at the edges of each colour. Woven ikat edges are slightly feathered, because dyed yarns never line up perfectly. A printed ikat has crisp, identical repeats.
• Run a fingertip across the dots. Hand-tied bandhani has tiny raised points; a print of bandhani dots is completely flat.

What a Multicolour Saree Costs in 2026

These are regular list prices from our current multicolour edit. Seasonal offers applied automatically at checkout often bring them lower.

Two things explain the spread. Chinon is a light synthetic that takes digital print beautifully, so you're paying for design, not fibre. A woven Kanjivaram costs more because the colour is built into the structure, border and pallu included.

Which Multicolour for Which Occasion

• Office and everyday: mul mul cotton or a linen check. The colour reads cheerful while the fabric stays quiet.
• Mehendi, haldi and daytime functions: bandhani and bright prints. Nobody expects restraint at a mehendi.
• Navratri nights and festive dinners: printed Patola soft silk or a digital-print chinon that moves with you, light enough for hours of garba.
• Weddings: a woven multicolour Kanjivaram. The contrast border and pallu carry the colour story, so the look is rich without being busy.

How to Style a Busy Saree Without Looking Busy

The rule that works most often: take your blouse colour from the pallu, not the border, and choose the second-strongest colour in it rather than the loudest. A solid blouse in that shade ties everything together. Then pick one metal for your jewellery, oxidised silver for cottons and prints and gold for silks, and keep the bag plain so the saree stays the hero. For more pairings, see our blouse colour combination guide.

Caring for Multicolour Sarees

• Woven silk and Kanjivaram: dry-clean only, and refold along new lines every few months so the zari doesn't crack.
• Bandhani and resist-dyed cottons: wash the first time alone in cold water. Deep reds and blues can bleed.
• Printed chinon and satin: gentle cold hand-wash and dry in the shade to protect the print.

Multicolour Saree FAQs

Which blouse colour goes with a multicolour saree?

Pick a solid in the second-strongest colour of the pallu. If the saree has many colours, a gold or black blouse works as a neutral and keeps the look calm.

Is a multicolour saree suitable for a wedding?

Yes. For a wedding, choose a woven multicolour, such as a Kanjivaram with a contrast border and pallu, which looks rich and formal. Printed Patola soft silks work well for guests at pre-wedding functions.

How can I tell if a Patola saree is woven or printed?

Flip it over. A woven double-ikat Patola looks identical on both sides and its pattern edges are slightly feathered; a printed one has a paler back and crisp repeats. Price is a strong clue too, and our Patola price guide explains single vs double ikat tiers.

Find Your Multicolour Saree

Browse the full multicolour sarees collection, or shop by technique: Patola sarees for ikat geometry, bandhani sarees for tie-dye dots, printed sarees for pattern on a budget, and Kanjivaram sarees for woven contrast borders. Every saree ships free across India, with COD available.

Shelves for the styles in the price table

The collections above go by technique. Some rows in the price table have shelves of their own:

• Printed Patola soft silk. Our soft silk sarees page is built from the words "soft silk" in a saree's name and only lists pieces with stock on hand, so the Printed Patola soft silks with stock sit there. It is the shelf for the Navratri-night and festive-dinner picks above.
• Mul mul cotton. Our mul mul cottons carry the cotton tag, so for the office-and-everyday row, start with the cotton sarees page, which also only lists pieces with stock on hand.
• Parties and college events. We do not run a ready-to-wear shelf yet. Our sarees for farewell page is built from the partywear tag and only lists pieces with stock on hand; bandhani, georgette and designer partywear sarees lead its bestselling end.

One note on the multicolour collection linked at the top: several of its bestselling pieces are unpublished at the moment, so these shelves are a more direct route to each style.