Lay cloth on flat surface. Place thumbs of both hands together firmly on the cloth. Position fingers about an inch or two in front of your thumbs, and pinch the fabric to raise a fold. Continue to pinch up more pleats until you reach the end of the cloth. You can change directions as often as you want by gathering more material in one hand than in the other.
Be careful not to lose any pleats. Loop rubber bands or string very tightly around all the pleats several times and knot. You can use as many ties as you want.