Fabric crepe and in fabric drying process for producing absorbent sheet

The invention relates to a method of making cellulosic absorbent sheet comprising: a) preparing a cellulosic web from an aqueous papermaking furnish, the web being provided with a plurality of fiber-enriched regions with a drawable reticulum having relatively high local basis weight interconnected by way of a plurality of lower basis weight linking regions, the reticulum being further characterized in that it comprises a cohesive fiber matrix capable of increase in void volume upon drawing; b) drying the web while substantially preserving the drawable fiber reticulum; and c) drawing the web. The invention relates also to an absorbent cellulosic web comprising a plurality of fiber-enriched regions of relatively high local basis weight interconnected by a plurality of lower local basis weight regions, characterized in that caliper of the web decreases more slowly than basis weight upon drawing the web, as well as to an absorbent cellulosic web comprising a plurality of fiber-enriched regions of relatively high local basis weight interconnected by a plurality of lower local basis weight regions, characterized in that caliper of the web decreases more slowly than basis weight upon drawing the web.