Here is my own rainbow of sari petticoats. To wear a sari, you need to wear one of these to tuck the sari into as you wrap it around your waist.
This and the choli are considered underclothes, so running around with just these on is considered a faux pas in India.
Choli is the term for blouse in Hindi. It is most characterized by the lehenga choli, another Indian outfit with a skirt, a scarf (or dupatta) and the choli. Lehenga choli’s are one of my favorite things but we will get into that in another post.
Each sari comes with an extra yard or so of plain fabric or for more fancy saris, special decorations that outline sleeves and the hem of a sari. The most exciting thing about cutting off the yard of fabric for the tailor is that you can design your own blouse like the back and front necklines, and the sleeves.