This project combines my newfound interest in sewing and my love of making up silly characters.

Introducing the Cats in Space zip-up pouches, now for sale at the Intergalactic Travel Authority!

Origins

After taking a couple of sewing classes at The Workroom back in March (highly recommended, by the way!), I began to sew anything I could think up. Obviously this meant learning how to sew up a zip-up pouch from the hundreds of tutorials on the Internet. I also became interested in printing my own work onto fabric, so I bought a couple of slabs of soft linoleum and carved away.

Here’s the first pouch I made, featuring Peggy Pointer.

When Liz at Story Planet/the Intergalactic Travel Authority saw it, she encouraged me to come up with something space-themed that we could sell in the shop. HMMM! That got me thinking.

The result: CATS IN SPACE!

Cats in Space zip-up pouches are now for sale at the Intergalactic Travel Authority (aka Story Planet). Purrfect for storing your space-travel knick knacks. 

Who are the Cats in Space?

Meet Commander Catfield and Félicette.

Commander Catfield

Chris Catfield was born on a farm. Fascinated by everything in the sky, he convinced a chicken to teach him how to fly. Soon he was jetting around the world with the Cat-adian Armed Forces. But the sky was not enough: Chris Catfield needed to go BEYOND. He traded in his pilot wings for a cat-stronaut suit, joined the Cat-adian Space Agency, and became… COMMANDER CATFIELD.

Commander Catfield recently had a five-month stint at the Intergalactic Space Station. He shared his experiences in Space with everybody on Earth via a very active Internet presence. Particularly well loved is his MewTube cover of Space Cod-ditty (that song about Major Tomcat being sad because there’s no codfish in space).

Commander Catfield has since retired from being a cat-stronaut. He will soon begin teaching stuff about flying at the University of Watermew.

Obviously Commander Catfield was inspired by a certain charismatic Canadian astronaut. I mean, don’t you see the resemblance?

Félicette

In the 1960s, the French government decided to launch the first cat into space. Fourteen street cats were selected to undergo extensive training to prepare them for their space journey. Despite the rigour of their training, ten of the cats were declared too fat for flight. They were decommissioned, and the street cat Félix was chosen to ride the rocket. But right before his journey, Félix escaped. Another cat, Félicette, was chosen to take his place.

Félicette sported an electrode on her forehead that transmitted electrophysiological data to the team of French space scientists. On October 18th, 1963, Félicette was strapped inside a capsule in the nose cone of a Véronique rocket. The rocket blasted off into space. Then the capsule separated from the rocket, reaching a height of 97 miles before plummeting back towards Earth. A parachute ballooned open, bringing Félicette safely back to the ground. Phewf, she was okay!!!

But not all the animals that have gone into space have made it back all right. So let us take a moment now to reflect on Félicette and all of the other animals in space who paved the way for human spaceflight.

The zip-up pouches

I inserted a biographical card into each pouch and made little tags in an attempt to make the pouches look more special.

The display at Story Planet

Check out this adorable little display at Story Planet, put together by the lovely Bex. Seeing it filled me with unexpected delight.