For Randall Christensen and his wardrobe team at ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," the weeks are a crystal-encrusted, chiffon-wrapped blur.

"Dancing" is known as much for its dazzling costumes as its disco-ball trophy. Every week, celebrity contestants and their professional partners step out in costumes ranging from glamorous to outrageous; from swingy dresses reminiscent of old Hollywood elegance to skimpy spangled hot pants.

Each outfit is one-of-a-kind, handmade and custom-designed with the dancer's personality, figure and ability in mind. Every feather wisp is glued on individually, each rhinestone and sequin carefully sewn on by hand. And the entire episode's attire is conceived of, styled and stitched into reality in about four days.

"People really don't realize that there's no magic closet that we pull this from. It is a bolt of fabric every Wednesday," says Christensen, a dancer who's been making costumes professionally since 1978. "We never use a ready-made costume. ... Every single solitary thing is made from scratch."

Each contestant -- including actors Kirstie Alley and Ralph Macchio and boxer Sugar Ray Leonard -- is paired with a professional dancer who choreographs the week's routines and dreams up the costume concepts. Christensen translates their visions into sketches on Tuesday and buys the fabrics on Wednesday. His team of two pattern makers and 10 seamstresses transform the raw materials into costumes by Friday.

Their workroom contains the highest concentration of sequins anywhere at CBS Television City, where "Dancing" is filmed. Along one wall are bolts of fabric: shimmery purple, deep emerald green and bright royal blue -- materials ordered from a dance company in Europe where the fringe, stretch fabric, mesh and chiffon all match.

Fourteen sewing machines and mannequins from size 0 to 16 are in the room, as are costumes in various stages of creation. And the gowns aren't just gorgeous on the outside; bra cups and body-shaping panels are hidden inside to provide a solid foundation and prevent wardrobe malfunctions.

Christensen also has to consider the show's requisite spray tans when it comes to each costume's color and fit: "They're going to be mahogany by Monday; they just keep spraying and spraying," he says. "We can't use double-stick tape. It does not stick with the perspiration, the gyration and the tanning creams. So if it's gaping somewhere, we have to take that dress off, rip the stones off, put a dart in, resew it and restone it."

Even though the show's pace is unrelenting, and Christensen decided after his first season that he'd never do it again, he keeps coming back for more. It's the variety, he says, and the magic that comes from creating such glamorous gowns.

"This is the biggest fantasy show there could be," he says. "I say we do everything from Cinderella to drag queens -- from that campiness all the way to a dream dress where all that's missing is a tiara."