Craftgrrl

To make pleats you just fold the fabric over itself before sewing it down. Hem the skirt before sewing the pleats in so you can make sure the bottom of the skirt will be straight by making adjustments if necessary in the waist where the adjustments won't show.

Ironing would make it easier, but there will be more pinning involved than ironing. If you want the pleats to be crisp then you will definitely need to iron them.

you'll definitely have to iron. iron and pin. but i'd suggest for your first one that you find a fabric that's either striped or plaid (but that's on-grain, if the pattern is wonky it won't work) so that you can just fold over at every second stripe or something like that, because it will be wayyyy easier than having to measure each pleat as you pin it. does that make sense?

What kind of pleats do you want?

And I know this might seem obvious, but you need more fabric than normal. ;) For a skirt that has "cheerleader pleats" you need 3 times as much fabric as you want the skirt wide, plus a bit for seam allowance. It's easy for me to forget that part until I'm actually sewing, hahaha.

~Kissy