It’s fascinating how clothing evolves throughout the ages. If anyone else is as interested as I am, here’s a brief overview of how a working class, masculine undergarment evolved into a dainty dress worn by little girls.
Smocks (a loosely fitting, square -shaped garment usually pulled over the head) and smocking— go back hundreds of years, while shirring is a relatively recent technique which owes its origin to the invention and mass production of elastic thread around the 1900s.
Smocking is a decorative, but labor intensive, means of pleating fabric using embroidery stitches. The result allows for a degree of stretch because the fabric folds retain some movement depending on the size and type of embroidery stitch. While the main purpose is to hold pleats in place, the embroidery designs and stitches used in smocking can be quite decorative and are mostly done by hand.
Shirring is much faster since it is basically just a straight seam which uses elastic thread instead of a conventional spun thread. The stretch comes from tension placed on the elastic thread as the seam is stitched; as soon as the tension is released, the elastic reverts back to its normal length forming pleats in the fabric. Several closely spaced rows of stitching give that shirred panel effect which provides shaping the desired area of a loose garment. Decorative shirring is done by using different machine stitches and different colors of elastic thread. Since elastic thread can break more easily than spun thread, most shirred garments are made of lightweight fabric. A loose fitting garment like a smock is a perfect candidate for shirring since the shirring can add shape to the garment in desired areas.
So, Angie’s dress IS a smock dress which uses shirring for shaping. The $$$ little girl’s dress worn by Princess Charlotte, though, is a smock dress with smocking used for both shaping and decorative effect.
Addendum: While I suspect very few YLFer would care, after having to learn how to smock under the eagle eye of my dressmaker grandmama at the tender age of seven, I’m horrified that anyone would equate that finger-pricking, tedious embroidery work with the “takes-less-than-minute” machine shirring seam. My inner seven-year-old is still wounded…
