Abstract: A creping machine comprising a driven rotary carrier roll; a stationary blade assembly which is positioned to press sheet material into entrained engagement with the circumferential surface of the carrier roll and which includes a resilient spring blade projecting downstream from the immediately adjacent portion of the assembly; and a stationary retarder extending downstream from the circumferential surface of the carrier roll adjacent to the projecting resilient spring blade and over which the sheet material passes on disengagement from the said surface; the retarder having a transverse upstream facing wall extending downwardly from its upper surface whereby a cavity constituting a creping zone is defined upstream of the said wall and beneath the projecting resilient spring blade. Operation of the machine, which can in some cases be effected without a projecting blade causes a true creping action at wall.