I have been pleating a wide inset for a customer. I am pleating all 24 rows. It is in the Imperial Broadcloth and the fabric is 60" wide. During the first 1/3rd of the pleating 2 needles broke. These needles were about in the middle of the pleater. Ugh! I am not proficient in removing those needles and replacing them as I've seen published in one of the needlework magazines over the years. So rather than stopping, I proceeded until the end of the fabric. Now I am left with the job of hand pleating the 2 rows where the needles broke.

I found that using my clear plastic OLFA ruler which has a wide end to mark one of the rows the 3/8" spacing that is made with the pleater. I marked dots with a purple vanishing marker along the pleater row. Then I cut a thin piece of cardboard about 1/2" X 6" to be a guide for spacing the stitches. I could align the cardboard piece along the space between stitches on the row above and below where I was needing to fill in. The cardboard is placed right along the side of the next stitch, so I know how much of a space I need to dip my needle into the fabric.

Hope this helps, if you ever get into this delimna!