I’ve always wanted to make this Three Amigos costume ever since I saw the movie years ago. I just had to figure out how I was going to pull it off. And have 3 willing participants – My husband and his two best friends were all for it.
I started with having the guys get a black suit at a second-hand store. I cut the jacket off to make it a bolero. Then bought all the silver fabric paint I could find. Them piped the paint on the jackets and pants as close to the original patterns that I could.
I made ruffled shirts out of regular white dress shirts and red ties and cumber buns. I made belts and holsters out of black vinyl and also added the silver paint. I also bought toy cap guns.
The hats were the trickiest. I could not find black felt sombreros, at least not anywhere close to where I live. I got regular straw sombreros and glued black felt on to them. For the top I sewed a cap that fit over the top then glued the trim and painted the designs to match the suits.
In the movie, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short all had different patterns on their suits and hats.
The guys had so much fun in their Three Amigos costumes that they will find any excuse to wear them. They also learned the “My little buttercup” song from the movie and had the guts to walk into a cowboy bar and start to perform. It was just like in the movie. Everyone stopped what they were doing when they walked in. You could hear a pin drop. They won first place that night.
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Amazing! Thank you so much for your post!
You’ve given me some great pointers on how to pull this together.
I would love to rent these for me and my two brothers for Halloween! Please!!!
I want to make these myself and would love to know if you have a close up of the patterns or paint that you did? These are fantastic!
I can’t wait to try to make these for me, my sis, and cousin. Hey who said the 3 Amigos have to be guys!
How did you paint the clothes? Did you come up with a pattern on a piece of cardboard or something? Did you paint by hand? I am making my friends and I Three Amigos outfits as well and am having a hell of a time doing it. Please let me know, I would love to get any tips/possibly the patterns off you.
My Friends and I made them as well just using the silver fabric paint. Ours was a sparkly silver fabric paint. It looked very nice. We just made up our own designs on the pants and coats but we were consistant throughout. Just have fun with the design.
you should make them and sell them at a decent price cause many like myself would buy them cause the costume stores want way to much. Take some orders and make a profit
I’m trying to find Three Amigo costumes for my son’s rehearsal dinner in Dec’10. He & his two brothers LOVE the movie & are definitely the Three Amigos.
Great work. I’d love some closeups of your suits. Could you send a few? (darth.movado@gmail.com)
Jesse