So, my wife picked up a few yards of Black Watch material from a local fabric shop and is intending on making some small kilts for my toddlers for a renaissance faire this weekend. She's not trying to make the perfect kilt, but would like them to not look like a skirt. I bought a few buckles for her to sew into the hips to secure it, but I'm unsure how to keep the pleats in it. In my head I picture laying it out in the way you would a great kilt (folding the pleats manually, laying on it, then fastening it), but I'm just completely ignorant of any other method except sewing the pleats in. Has anyone ever tried to do something like this that would have some advice?

Thank in advance.