To crimp, pleat, or flute fabric or paper into regular folds or waves, typically for decorative purposes.
From French 'gaufrer,' meaning to make waffle-like patterns, derived from 'gaufre' (waffle). The technique became popular in textile work during the medieval period for decorating clothes and furnishings.
Goffering was once a prestigious textile craft—Renaissance nobles paid good money to have their linen collars and cuffs goffered into elaborate wavy patterns. It's basically the historical ancestor of modern crimping and pleating machines.
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