Pleated linen is a form of processing linen which results in a fabric which is heavily pleated and does not crease like normal linen fabric.
The earliest form of pleated linen dates from ancient Egypt and can be seen in a garment known as the Tarkhan dress, which is over 5000 years old and is believed to be one of the oldest dresses in existence.[1] Other examples of pleated linen from ancient history include pleated linen from the tomb of queen Neferu.[2] The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has in its collection[3] four excellently preserved pleated linen dresses, all found in 1902-1903 by George A. Reisner at the cemetery of Naga ed-Deir in Egypt.[4] It is not known exactly how the Egyptians pleated linen, but the material may have been "folded, accordion style, then tied, and wetted."[5]
In the 1950s the Irish fashion designer, Sybil Connolly, developed a method of hand-pleating linen with the handkerchief linen manufacturer Spence Bryson.[6] Handkerchief linen is a light form of linen, and this pleating process used 9 yards of the material to create 1 yard of pleated linen.[7] The pleating of the fabric meant that unlike other linen garments, ones made with pleated linen were uncrushable, could be packed without becoming creased and maintained their shape.[8][9] First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy selected a pleated linen creation by Sybil Connolly when she sat for an official Aaron Shikler White House portrait in 1970.[10] Sybil was reportedly very protective of her pleating method, saying it was a secret she would “carry to the grave.”[11]
