Need Advice - Cutting the Pleats

[petrabb]

019.jpg
It's still a length of fabric, wrapped and held up with a belt at this point,
Hubby put it on just for the photo, to see how it looks and to judge the fit.
Pleats are hand sewn down the fell (the fabric is a nightmare for precision)
and the pleats are still basted at the bottom, and this is how far we are.

Next step, I imagine, is to cut away the excess fabric and adding stabilizer and lining.
I do not have the book (yet) so I am going by the instructions I found at:
https://www.scottishdance.net/highland/MakingKilt.html

Still, I do have questions, like...
After cutting away the excess fabric, do you iron the pleats open?
How do you stop the fabric that is left behind from unraveling?
Any advice is welcome, thanks!