Who is Old Mr. Toad to me?
At first, I really had no idea. My colleague had grown up reading the books featuring Mr. Toad and dreamed of bringing him to life. And bring him to life, we did.
At first, I was a little skeptical. I wasn’t immediately excited about designing a costume for a toad, but once I began sketching, the project completely came alive for me. My colleague, Eric, always says that the best way to get better at something is simply to do it, and that really applied here. He shared drawings of Old Mr. Toad, which became my starting point for figuring out the construction of the garments. My goal was to focus on the silhouette and personality of the clothing, rather than just creating a toad in clothes. Old Mr. Toad has such a strong presence, and I wanted the costume to reflect that.
Once I understood the vision, I couldn’t stop. The drawing included a white button-up shirt, a patterned green vest, and a brown jacket layered on top. From there, I began thinking about how to build a toad body through shape, proportion, and strategic design details. I used small front pockets, oversized elbow pockets, and exaggerated structure to create the illusion of a rounded toad belly. What started as a simple concept quickly grew into designing, patternmaking, constructing, and sewing every part of the look. In the end, it became a six-month-long project.
Old Mr. Toad is quiet, quaint, warm, and a little goofy, and I wanted to capture all of that in the costume. I wasn’t interested in just making clothing for an animal — I wanted to create personality through clothing. That is what makes character design so exciting to me. Every design detail has the ability to deepen the story of the character.
From there, I planned the patternmaking process carefully. The model needed a prominent belly, so I created a base pattern that would hold its shape, support the structure, and also allow the rest of the garment to fit properly. I drafted a custom button-up shirt to anchor the look, complete with a collar and shaping that helped define the character. I made several mockups to perfect the fit, and I repeated that process for the sleeves.
Next, I moved on to the vest, a tailored plaid layer in shades of green and brown. This was not just any vest — I wanted it to feel fitted, shaped, and intentional, with curved lines that would help exaggerate the belly and strengthen the overall silhouette. After that, I drafted a blazer-style jacket, which helped bring even more personality to the costume. The jacket was designed to feel slightly novel, with a shorter front and longer back, along with proportioned pants that helped reinforce the character’s form.
Seeing the costume on stage was incredibly rewarding. I loved how it turned out, especially knowing that I built it through patterning and construction rather than relying on foam other sculptural materials. It was a project that pushed my technical skills and reminded me how much personality can be created through garment design.
