Today I tried holding the whole thing up in the air in front of me, holding the pleats in one hand as I gathered it together with some loose fabric on either end for the aprons. Then I swung it all behind my back and pinched the top of the pleats between my chin and shoulder, arranged it around myself and belted it while standing. Awkward but effective, and extremely fast. Once again, no clean pleats, but a strong argument for ease of use.