The Victorian Blouse - Pleats

Here is the finished front pleats:

And here are the back pleats, with one of the sets of eight finished, starting the second set;

that was one of the straightest pleats I made -

close up

pressed down pleat, full 

But then I did the pleat next to it and realized it wasn't nearly as straight as I thought, as you can see below:

 The finished back pleats:

I think it is important that the pleats are pressed straight, before they are even pinned and sewn; maybe spray starch would've helped me to get a straight line. Also, I think because the presser foot is sitting on the pleats before it, it creates wavy lines because its trying to balance on the bunch of pleats before.

The next step will be smocking;  here's the smocking grid I drafted:

and the information i copied on a book i borrowed about smocking