OK all. I finally got to the actual making of the pleater I
neede for this cummerbund project (which now may grow to 250
of the things!!). After much searching and lots of help
from you all, I ended up going with heavy (shirt collar
weight) interfacing in place of the Vilene Fusible Badge
Backing 1050HF.

The first stuuf I bought for stiffening looked interesting,
labled as shirt weight fusible, somewhat spider-webby
looking and very stiff. I neglected to write down the
brand, tho. Texture was nice, but I've NEVER had such a
problem with fusible shrinkage! I did the usual preshrink
steaming, watched it contract what seemed like miles, and
thought, OK, I'm ready to fly. When I tried fusing it to
the cotton face, though, I got about 10% more shrinking,
making for an amazing pebbled surface. I was reminded of
some of the deliberate fabric crinkling techniques I've
seen. NOT what I need for this job, however.

Oncce that was tosssed out, I pulled out my old standby
Pellon Shirt-tailor (I think it's labled). Fused like the
champ it has always been. I spent quite while getting the
pleats just right (one line always wanted to go crooked),
and steamed the life out of it. Adding the back webbing and
face was simple.

This thing looks like it will be a real life saver. I drew
on the cotton alignment points for the cummerbund piece in
two sizes, and tried it out on a handfull of samples. It
takes a bit of patience to get it tucked in, but much less
fuss than marking and aligning. I suspect practice will
improve the speed, too.

Total time to make this was ~45 minutes, including fighting
the rotten interfacing stuff. Total time saved: anybody's
guess. Now that I know how easy it can be, I may just make
myself one for skirts and miscellaneous projects.

Thanks to all of you for all your help.

$.01