u/MaleficentShake5930

Ai show meowmy kouponz ob burgurrs. She say “no”. Hooman stingee.

Sum fureber dayz layter, she bai big burgurr. Ai gets eggcited, so ai runrunrun ta her.

…But den…

…she eet in frunt ob mi, an’ she no shayr!!

AI PURROTEST! AI ANGWY!

…ai hungwy…

(Leo lost some weight…but then he gained it right back when my dad was sneaking him more cake. I caught my dad sneaking him a huge crumb of cake today, so I staunchly ignored Leo’s begging eyes as I ate my burger.)

Mai meowmy dum dum. Ai hyde in da bestest playse eva! …But she no find me! Ai wanna play wif sum smarter cattos. Letz play!—Leo da meowgnificent

So if some of you remember from my last post, I bought some waxed canvas, and learned a lot from that experience. I decided to make a new and improved little brother to the prototype big sister.

So! I used a small, plastic, reusable tote (which you can see is the green tote bag at the end of the video) as my template. Thankfully, it was wrinkle-free, so I was easily able to trace it over the leather and waxed canvas. And while I remembered to make it a little bigger for seam allowance, unfortunately, I should have made it even bigger because I initially planned to make the reusable tote as the lining.

After I sewed the tote up, I realized that making it to the exact dimensions of the reusable tote was a bad idea, because the inside was smaller than the outside. That meant that the reusable tote bag wouldn’t fit snugly inside. My solution was to get one of those cheap, floppy reusable bags, fold in the handles, use double-sided tape to keep it down, and sew my make-shift lining.

As you can also see, I used more leather than the previous bag. I found leather that was soft enough to turn in, yet stiff enough to stand on its own. The leather was quite floppy, but the turned in seams gave it structure.

Waxed canvas is Halley Stevensons Moss Green. As for the leather used, it’s all off-cuts from Hand and Sew Leather Supply. I think the straps are Conceria 3S veg tan leather. The bottom of the tote is SB Foot Tannery leather, but the specific name of it is a mystery. The zipper accents is ICTYOS Squama Satin salmon leather.

This tote was more fun to make than the older, but bigger, one. I think it’s because it wasn’t such a hot day when I sewed it, and because I had less waxed canvas to deal with than before.

Now I got to figure out what to do with the rest of my waxed canvas…

So I was enamoured by the idea of making something out of waxed canvas and leather. OA Leather Supply was selling some Halley Stevensons waxed canvas, so I decided to take the plunge and buy it with no prior research done.

It came in the mail on a hot day, and to my surprise, it stunk like old crayons (I could practically see the stink waves, lol), and it felt really waxy to the touch—to the point where it left waxy residue on my fingers.

Then, I was like, “Shoot. Should have done some research before purchasing it. Oh well.” Then I proceeded to do some research.

I saw a Tony See Patterns video about him making a canvas and leather backpack, and I was excited to try the trick where you put double-sided tape on the edge to make stitching a double rolled hem easy. To my dismay, the tape didn’t stick. No surprise, because he used unwaxed canvas, and I had on my hands some waxed canvas. I had to resort to binder clips—which didn’t really work that well. Maybe next time, regular sewing pins would do the job better?

The guy in the video also had a sewing machine, and I did not own one. So hand sewing it was! I was initially thinking of treating the waxed canvas exactly like leather (ie: using a stitching chisel and sewing it like normal), but then I remembered it was fabric and not leather—meaning that the holes would “heal”. So I used a sharp needle with a big enough eye, and proceeded to use my waxed Ritza Tiger thread.

Boy, what a nightmare hand sewing waxed canvas is. It was a hot day, so the wax was melting off and sticking to my fingers making it super slippery. It was nearly impossible to grab the needle. Then, I figured out a trick: sew in the morning while it’s cool with the windows open (or turn on the a/c), and use a rubber disposable glove/rubber thimble. It worked!

Now my only gripe is that I hand sewed without marking a stitch line. If you look closely, my stitches are atrociously wonky, haha. Fun fact: a waxed crayon (or waxed pencil) is perfect for marking up the waxed canvas. I think you can rub the marks off, or use a hair dryer to “melt” it away, but I never tried doing that, so don’t quote me on that.

Now sewing leather onto canvas is much like sewing on a zipper to leather. Speaking of, the zipper I sewed onto the tote was actually slightly easier than sewing a rolled hem. I think it’s because the fabric of the zipper absorbed a bit of the wax. I cut the zipper a little shorter than I should have, but I fixed it by attaching snap buttons on the side to keep the sides folded in. To my surprise, punching holes in waxed canvas is actually pretty easy. Do note that you can get by with a slightly smaller hole than you would with leather as the fabric can “stretch”—well it’s more like tearing the hole open bigger by forcing the snap posts in.

As for the leather I used, I had a spare belt strap from Lonsdale Leather on hand and some scraps of Teju lizard skin from Hand and Sew Leather. The white lining inside is an old reusable shopping tote that I decided to use as both the template for my tote as well as the lining. (I was worried that heat would transfer the wax onto my things inside if I decided to use it.)

All in all, it was a 50% fun and 50% a “I’ll never do this again” kind of project.

Meowmy opened mai treatos bag. Ai thot ai gets a treato, so ai runrunrun ta her. But den! She put treato in stoopid perpull thingy! Ai kant get da treato owt!

Ai angwy!

Ai soouper mad!

…ai hungwy…

—Leo da meowgnificent

(Human here. In my attempts to enrich Leo’s life and make him exercise for his food—he’s still clinically chubby—I bought a simple puzzle toy where you’re supposed to put a treat inside and the cat is supposed to play and get the treat out.

(Within 5 minutes of avid sniffing and licking, Leo whipped his tail in frustration, and stared at the puzzle with a glare. I guess puzzles aren’t for him… 😅)