Homemade cat harness for Hecate?

So, our little escape artist needs a harness because I've come to the conclusion she's ready to go outside for short walks... If she ever decides to behave on a lead. This is what I've come up with for a pattern.


She seems to be comfortable walking in it. This blank is simply made out of a sleeve from a toddler sweatshirt and I'm a bit afraid that if I take her outside in it, she'll slip out of it, so I'm gonna have to make something more sturdy. Should it open in the back or front? What should I make the harness out of? I'm likely hand sewing it, so it needs to be easy to see together. I'd prefer the fewest closures possible so its not hard to put on.

My friend who is in rescue has developed an escape-proof cat harness.



It is a modification of a regular harness.  What would be a side strap rotates to be a single strap that comes down between the front legs, in the middle of the chest, and then she uses a vet leash which she runs, handle first,  through the loop of the back strap and then through the chest strap under the belly and then through the wire loop on the vet leash.  She ties a knot in the vet leash so it can never slip out and then attaches one of those clips I can't remember the name of (something to do with sports) to the handle of the leash.  This way, if the cat tries to pull out backwards, which is how most cats escape from their harnesses, he can't do it because the band just tightens around his chest.  For early training, she just lets the cats go around the house with the harness on.

Hecate went nuts with a breast band. Refused to walk. Rolled out of it. Without the breast band, she's comfortable.