This is something that I have thought about a lot, being interested in costume in general, and ancient Egyptian costume in particular. I also have experience with costumes for various styles of Indian classical dance, as that is my "day job". In Kerala, several styles of performance use finely pleated cotton for skirts and frills. Dressers who do nothing else but dress the performers are very expert in holding a long piece of cloth, perhaps three or more meters in length, and at least a meter in width, and facing each other, begin with their fingers to form pleats along the edge, snap the pleats to span the width, and twist it to press the pleats in. They give a clean crease. The starched material had been flat at the outset. I think linen would hold the pleat without sizing. we used to "iron" our saris by holding them stretched out in the sun, flap them a bit, and they were soon dry. Washermen lay them out on the sand, after washing them, possibly in natron and cooking them in an enormous pile, then rinsing them. the costumes for Kathakali and Krishnattam, Koodiattam could be looked at to get an idea of how it works. Maybe the boards were more useful for sleeves, or to get a setting for the edges, and then pinched by hand, twisted, and voila! you have the elegant 18th dynasty gentleman with the bunch and swag of precise pleats.
This is something that I have thought about a lot, being interested in costume in general, and ancient Egyptian costume in particular. I also have experience with costumes for various styles of Indian classical dance, as that is my "day job". In Kerala, several styles of performance use finely pleated cotton for skirts and frills. Dressers who do nothing else but dress the performers are very expert in holding a long piece of cloth, perhaps three or more meters in length, and at least a meter in width, and facing each other, begin with their fingers to form pleats along the edge, snap the pleats to span the width, and twist it to press the pleats in. They give a clean crease. The starched material had been flat at the outset.
I think linen would hold the pleat without sizing. we used to "iron" our saris by holding them stretched out in the sun, flap them a bit, and they were soon dry. Washermen lay them out on the sand, after washing them, possibly in natron and cooking them in an enormous pile, then rinsing them. the costumes for Kathakali and Krishnattam, Koodiattam could be looked at to get an idea of how it works. Maybe the boards were more useful for sleeves, or to get a setting for the edges, and then pinched by hand, twisted, and voila! you have the elegant 18th dynasty gentleman with the bunch and swag of precise pleats.