Developing my Plaiting Skills

During my practice sessions I was beginning to become frustrated with the way my french plaits were looking when finished. Take for example my second attempt below:

In my second attempt I was disappointed with how it all together looked disorganised and un-refined. on the other hand my fishtail plaiting technique, below, had come along a lot further and was looking very professional and finished stylishly.

I took to my tutor for advice and found that;
1. I was holding my plait much too far away from the head so there was a lot of slack in my finished braid
2. My initial sections weren't accurate enough and that I should divide the hair up using a comb 'like a pencil' to 'draw' my sectioning line in.
3. I needed to start of my braid with a triangular piece and always add new straight sections to the braid that lay directly next to it. 

After taking on board these comments I was able to produce the outcome below.

Looking at these two images i can see a vast improvement from my original attempts. Why? because they look more strategic in method as the sections seem even and symmetical. Ive also managed to keep the braid close the head to it seems to flow down the back nicely.