I know exactly how you feel. I did close together serpentine stitches and the pleats by the end were horrific but I just couldn't face unpicking and re doing with no guarantee that it would look any better so I just washed it and you know what if I get up close to it I can still see the pleats but when it's on the back of the chair or on the bed or even draped over me I've got to really look for them. I've since had another disaster when quilting but got lots of good advice from this wonderful quilters on this board. I think my walking foot is the problem it just pushes the fabric ahead of it like a wave, even lessening the pressure on the presser foot makes no difference so I'm going to take it to the shop to get them to test it and if that's the case I'll get a new one. Good luck it will be better than you think.