There is one more little trick I came up with. On the part of the pleats that are going to be stitched down I use Stitch Witchery, a heat and stean activated adhesive tape, to hold those down instead of pins. It saves me headaches at the sewing machine. Stick those sections down with the tape and just stitch em down. No pins to hassle with. Be careful not to get the tape in the section of the pleats you want to be loose and to swing.