"Painting white Egyptian linen" Topic

I bought some of the lovely Dark Fable Egyptians, and have promised myself I won't buy any more unless I can figure out to make the white linen clothing look good, or at least OK.
I think this breaks down into two problems:
1) I think the nobility would have worn bleached linen clothing, so seriously white
2) the hoi poloi would have worn unbleached linen, actually an off-white with a little yellow in it

Any suggestions on how to do both or either?

Grelber

I think that "plain" white id just TOO white myself, so I use a creamy off white – Americana "buttermilk"- for the linen. With "magic wash" brushed on after the figures are painted, it looks quite respectable.

I use Delta Ceram coat Trail Tan for the base, followed by their Cream colour. I paint the skin and put a Agrax Earthshade wash over the whole thing. After that dries I touch up the lined with the cream again and then do the extreme highlighting with white.

The Foundry triad for linen has a greenish base. It seems wrong until you use it but works well.

I use Humbrol enamels as a primer/undercoat (mostly for acrylics and watercolours) … generally a black undercoat.

With linen I tend to use Humbrol's linen as the undercoat (2 coats to get a good foundation) then dry brush white acrylic over the top … the posher the frock the more white goes on …

Phil

Until the advent of chemical bleaches (late 19th Century), all white linen would be off-white. In fact, all white fabrics would be off-white, some more than others.