Here is my second installment of practicing the Art of Dressmaking! The manual showed this interesting version of shirring, where you use a cord almost like a drawstring to create the gathers. I hadn’t really seen this method in use before, so I tracked down a couple examples of it. These two examples from 1921 suggest using the method with taffeta, but I did see one more from the late ’20s with chiffon for the fabric suggestion. (again, my nerdery is showing…)

Since these two original examples suggested taffeta, I grabbed a scrap from my Regency spencer and gave it a try. I seriously love the effect! I definitely need to figure out a way to use this technique on a real garment. I almost used yarn as my cording, but I had some corset lacing handy so I used that instead. I think it worked great! It’s much stronger and denser than yarn, so it gave great structure to the rows of shirring.

Have you come across this technique in your sewing and/or vintage journey? I’d love to see more examples!