What is the difference between ruching and shirring?

Question

They have always looked the same to me.

Answer 1

gathers

A means of distributing fullness in some part of a garment by sewing a loose row of stitches, pulling the thread, and sliding the fabric along the thread to make soft folds in order to decrease the width of the fabric.
In shirring three or more rows of gathers are placed parallel lines to achieve a decorative effect while also manipulating fullness.

ruching

Current fashion descriptions use the term ruching to refer to clothing with large areas of fullness gathered in to form a rippled effect. Historically, ruching was a trimming made by pleating bands of fabric and stitching the pleats in place. These bands were sewn onto various parts of the garment