Basting/Washing/Pleating Bulk Threat

[BEDickey1337]

So the time has come for me to clean my kilts, and I wanted to make sure I have everything in order and ask some questions about a few areas I had concerns about. I also wanted to create a kind of "Master Threat" that will allow anyone who wants to find this same information without having to search everywhere for it. Hopefully this can serve both purposes.

First, from everything that I can see, a basting stitch is simply used to hold pieces of fabric together, correct? Most all of the ones that I can see that are kilt related are all done with a sewing machine, is this necessary? Can I do the stitch by hand? I feel as though I lack some important information about this part somewhere.

Second, I understand that ironing/repleating will be needed. Is there a secret to getting those sharp pleats, that I am missing? I use an iron with steam on wool setting with a cotton shirt beneath to prevent damage. Mine always seem to get billowy at the selvedge.

I plan to use the kilt cleaning information found here unless someone else has a better idea?

Is there any complication that I could be missing, problem I am not foreseeing at this point?

Thanks for all the information!