Depending on how you make them (at what point in your process you sew the waistline and all those pleats together at the top), you may be able to IRON the material before you have to sew through the 1/2 inch hick part.

Generally, I stick my hand into the pleat when it's done. If my fingers disappear, it's a pretty good depth. If my HAND disappears, I KNOW it's a good depth.

If you are using more than 7 or 8 inches of material for a .75 or 1 inch wide pleat, you should be good. If the pattern repeat is at 4", then you'll need to use every other pattern. If the repeat is at 7 or more (pretty WIDE pattern, but we do have some), then you should be good using every pattern..

Hope this helps.