Fussy Cat Change - A - Mat was the inspiration of Sarah Patchett who gained a 1st equal in the Technology section (yr 9 - 11).
Sarah is a 15-year-old from Marlborough Girls' College, who was intrigued by the strange things her cats chose to lie on. The aim of her project was to design and produce a deluxe cats' bed that you can change the mats on to suit the fussiest cat.
From her knowledge of the wide range of materials her cats laid on Sarah made woven mats and carried out fair tests to see which materials the cats spent the most time on with changing weather conditions.
After constructing several prototype beds and testing them Sarah came with a beanbag bed with a supporting back roll and Velcro dots to attach the favourite mat of the moment.
A special feature of Sarah's' project was that she produced a marketing package for the cat bed that included pamphlets explaining how to make the bed complete with a pattern.
She also surveyed cat owners as to whether they would by her design.
Sarah learned that cats really are fussy creatures with changing tastes in sleeping surfaces and produced an excellent technology project.
Sarah got a little help from her mum with some tricky sewing otherwise she did all the work herself.
Some helpful hints from Sarah are "try and design something for humans rather than pets, allow yourself plenty of time to do your project and test your finished design as much as possible".