Sewn Wavy Pleats Tutorial
Written and Designed by Janet M. Davies 
Panels in bags or other sewn items look great with pleats sewn into them
and then top stitched to produce a wavy pattern.

  
This bag above is 49cm (19 inches) wide. I made the centre panel is wavy pleats.
 

1. Cut your panel the width you want it and approximately 4 times the length you want to finished panel to be.
 

2. Now draw horizontal lines on the width of your fabric 1 inch apart. Not the purple sticky I put on my ruler so I could easily follow the right line on the ruler. I used a blue water soluble pen to mark the fabric.

3. Now fold the fabric long each drawn line and sew 1/4 inch out from the line.
Repeat on each line dawn.

4. After all horizontal pleats have been sewn; draw lines approximately 3 inches
apart  vertically over top of the folded sewn pleats. These new lines will be your sewing guides for the top stitching.

5. Making sure pleats/fabric are sitting smooth. Stitch over pleats along each vertical guide line. BUT make the pleats folded alternate directions for each line stitched.

6. Finished. When I top sttich the pleats, I stitch twice each row.