A method of making a fabric-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet. The method includes compactively dewatering a papermaking furnish to form a web having a consistency of about 30 percent to about 60 percent, creping the web under pressure in a creping nip between a transfer surface and a structuring fabric, the structuring fabric including knuckles formed on warp yarns of the structuring fabric, with the knuckles having a length in the machine direction (MD) of the absorbent sheet and a width in the cross machine direction (CD) of the absorbent sheet, wherein a planar volumetric density index of the structuring fabric multiplied by a ratio of the length of the knuckles to the width of the knuckles is at least about 43, and drying the web to form the absorbent cellulosic sheet.