To use elastic, the fabric at the waist has to be big enough to fit over your hips or your shoulders and bust, which means there will be a lot of bulk at the waist. That's the "problem" with a plain elastic waisted gathered skirt.

To make a box pleated skirt, you MUST have a waistband and a zipper or some sort of placket (you can use snaps or hooks and eyes). Because elastic will gather up the pleats and you lose the pleated effect.

I agree with the above poster... with a box pleat skirt you must have a zipper and waist band. Go ahead and jump right in!.. they aren't really hard to put in, I'm sure there's a YouTube video on sewing zippers. best of luck to you....

Zippers are easy ... buy a couple of them at a thrift store and practice putting them in.