I haven't got a stitch to wear
February 20, 2014 10:14 PM   Subscribe

Drag queen and insult comic Bianca del Rio (a hopeful on this season of RuPaul's Drag Race) makes herself a dress in less than 5 minutes live on stage.
posted by en forme de poire (25 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
Love the laugh at 2:11!
posted by artof.mulata at 10:40 PM on February 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


I will never under any other circumstances say this, but this makes me miss Chicago. I don't have logo here (why, Comcast,why) and I can't even go to spin for a watch party.
But still, awesome!
posted by susiswimmer at 11:04 PM on February 20, 2014


GODDESS. Holy freaking hell how was that not a magic trick????
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 11:22 PM on February 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


I sometimes think I'd like to try making clothes, but the simplest shirt or pants I could make have, like, a zillion components.

So what I'm saying is, heteronormative guys have it tough too.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:28 PM on February 20, 2014


Holy freaking hell how was that not a magic trick????

Yeah, I was wondering during the reveal, also, whether that completed dress wasn't on under the white thing the whole time and the rest of it wasn't just all theatrics building up to that end bit about pulling up the shoulder straps and the skirt down.
posted by hippybear at 11:35 PM on February 20, 2014


In "real life" Roy is a costume designer, so while I wouldn't put it past her to use a little sleight of hand, Bianca definitely knows her way around a sewing machine.
posted by en forme de poire at 12:41 AM on February 21, 2014


She's from New Orleans! (Of course.) Awesome clip!
posted by Anitanola at 1:32 AM on February 21, 2014


Thanks fellow commenters. You got me to go back after grumpily exiting twice because I was so annoyed that the other cellphone users would just not get off my vicarious lawn with their capturin'-the-moment antics. But you valiant souls convinced me it was worth it, and I was not disappointed. Thank you.

It's like a sort of Pilgrim's Progress experience but with annoying members of the audience enjoying themselves (forsooth) and a spectacular payoff.
posted by aesop at 1:35 AM on February 21, 2014


In "real life" Roy is a costume designer, so while I wouldn't put it past her to use a little sleight of hand, Bianca definitely knows her way around a sewing machine.

But I didn't actually see her sewing anything that looked big enough to be a dress. There was a biggish piece that she looked like she was working with, and then discarded, and then she did sew something that looked like it could be a sleeve -- but the dress was sleeveless.

Costume designer or not, I suspect you'd struggle to make a dress that fit as well as that one did, without a few test fittings and adjustments.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:36 AM on February 21, 2014


But if it really was a sleight-of-hand trick, I'd be surprised if she took the whole 5 minutes to set it up the way she did. There's only so much business of show that can go into the sewing-machine bits, so unless it's 'for real' why bther doing more than make it look real? damn this is some philosopical depths woh
posted by aesop at 1:39 AM on February 21, 2014


coolest engineering video I saw in a long time!
posted by ouke at 1:57 AM on February 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


Also, if the dress was a ringer, why the hitch in the stiching on the left hip?
posted by idiopath at 2:41 AM on February 21, 2014


The fabric being used was very stretchy, if you notice. So as long as she got it 'pretty close' it wouldn't have to be perfect.
posted by ZaneJ. at 5:19 AM on February 21, 2014 [5 favorites]


It takes me longer than this to sew a button back on.

I mean, jesus, it takes me longer than this to put on clothes.

I'm impressed.
posted by phunniemee at 6:56 AM on February 21, 2014 [7 favorites]


Costume designer or not, I suspect you'd struggle to make a dress that fit as well as that one did, without a few test fittings and adjustments.

Two things:
Very stretchy fabric, as people have already noted, can be very forgiving. I used to have a pair of pants that I bought in high school and kept for 15 years (they eventually disintegrated) through about 8 different dress sizes. The nature of the fabric was such that they pretty much fit no matter what I weighed.

It's not like this is an unrehearsed thing. It's possible the fabric itself was pre-marked, or that she's practiced with the same fabric so she knows what to cut.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:58 AM on February 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


Totally awesome.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:49 AM on February 21, 2014


The RPDR subreddit was all atwitter about this, too. In my opinion, and the opinion of several others who sew, there wasn't enough sewing to actually make an entire dress. To me, it looked like she started sewing, it wasn't working, then switches out the fabric and finishes up something that was already mostly done.

Anyone who's a better expert than I know how this could have been done legitimately?
posted by zug at 8:50 AM on February 21, 2014


there was a biggish piece that she looked like she was working with, and then discarded

Hmm, I think she didn't discard it, though - I think that was supposed to be the main tube dress bit, and she just threw it down behind the table when she was finished sewing it up. I guess it's also possible she could have had something else already prepped in the same location; you can't really tell from this angle whether the work bench would have been able to conceal that.

Loving the comments from actual seam(sters/tresses), btw.
posted by en forme de poire at 9:55 AM on February 21, 2014


I don't think this was sleight of hand. I think she bias cut the stretchy fabric, knew where the stress points were on the final framing, stitched those points together quickly, and let the torsion in the rest of the fabric pull the remaining, overlapping seams together (so maybe that can be considered a visual sleight--not every seam is as fully joined as it might look). On the right fabric, bias cutting and some deftly done fagoting (titter) can really give you an elegant form without a lot of stitch work. Not everything's built with, like, Levi's double-stitched seams and rivets. A lot of sleek gowns are really held together by very little more than their own integrity and a few prayers.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 11:15 AM on February 21, 2014 [12 favorites]


This being RuPaul's Drag Race, the only proper response is a series of reaction gifs.

If you have watched the show as much as I have, you would know how imposing this display really is. Most drag queens perform in some capacity, but not all of them know sewing or garment construction. There are at least a couple of challenges a season that require it, and someone almost always has a dramatic workroom breakdown because they can't do it.

The season has already been filmed, but if it had not been, this would be terrifying. It still is. Bianca Del Rio is terrifying.

I am also still mad at her for making me laugh so hard I snorted scotch out of my nose. Eff you, Bianca Del Rio, that really hurt.

It was good scotch, too.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:20 PM on February 21, 2014 [2 favorites]


I also wonder if this isn't a bit of a dig at judge and former Project Runway contestant Santino Rice.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:31 PM on February 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


Re: Santino Rice, linking this picture will never get old.

They teased a line of Bianca's in the promo that went something like "I will show you versatility when Santino wins a sewing competition and Visage wears a turtleneck!" and I made a series of faces that went kind of like :-O :-D
posted by en forme de poire at 9:30 PM on February 21, 2014


I've done something similar - far FAR less flair, but still it's a sheathe dress made of stretchy frabric which covers a multitude of stitching sins. So if it were premarked, bias cut with minimal seams (so it's a single seam on the left, shoulder seams), it'd work. It works easier on a slim figure too, since it's not warping the seams to breaking point to get it on.

There's no hemming in sight either, which is time consuming in sewing up stuff.

Not caring about fabric wastage makes a difference too.
posted by geek anachronism at 8:06 PM on February 22, 2014 [2 favorites]


I don't have logo here (why, Comcast,why) and I can't even go to spin for a watch party.

Logo puts all RPDR episodes on their website for streaming (with ads). Enjoy!

posted by psoas at 7:42 PM on February 25, 2014


They're also "available on iTunes" (*wink*, *bell sound*)
posted by en forme de poire at 7:46 PM on February 25, 2014


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