a new trick for pleating

[Paul Henry]

I believe Paul Henry uses a similar technique.

sort of but not really,

I do make a template which is the width of the pleat at the hip, the length of the fell and the width at the waist, this isn't pinned, or chalked, I only use it as a guide, and I generally use about 3 pins to hold the pleat before sewing. The idea of cutting a scrap of card with the pleat width marked on isn't really all that strange or new.
I never pin the card to the fabric and sew around it, it simply wouldn't work very well that way, not least that you are covering up the bit of fabric that you see, infact the most important bit of fabric that you see!