A fiber laminate is made by providing a core layer of absorptive fiber material between two outer carrier layers to form a three-layer laminate. This three-layer laminate is then directly juxtaposed with a rigid template formed with an array of throughgoing holes separated by webs. Water jets are then directed at the three-layer laminate juxtaposed with the template to drive the fibers of the core layer out from between the carrier layers at the webs and to hydroentangle the outer layers directly with each other at the webs while leaving the core layer generally intact between the webs at the holes.