THREAD your needles, thimbles and fabric at the ready.

A sewing revolution is taking over Oxfordshire.

As shops report that fabric and threads are flying off the shelves, one craft school in Ardington can boast TV star and industry veteran May Martin as one of their sewing teachers.

Ms Martin – a judge on popular BBC2 show The Great British Sewing Bee – has already been teaching at Ardington School of Crafts near Wantage for the past year and will be running more courses.

Ms Martin, who has been teaching for 40 years, said her courses cater for all abilities.

She said: “All my classes I have range from 18 or 20 years old to retired people.

“I would say the younger generation are getting more interested in sewing. “I’m picking up the generation who didn’t learn to sew at school.

“The surge in popularity has been happening for the past 10 years.

“It is probably because we are much more aware of what we consume and what we waste. “And charity shops are now trendy because it is called vintage.”

Of the programme, Hampshire-based Ms Martin said: “Anything that brings sewing into the public domain is bound to increase interest.

“It is great, we’ve had some really good feedback.”

Ardington School of Crafts only opened last year, but has already taught more than 350 students on a range of craft courses.

Faith Pritchard, co-director, said: “People are starting to enjoy things made by hand. Sewing machines are flying off the shelves – and of course people need to learn to use them. As soon as The Great British Sewing Bee aired we had a full course and a waiting list.”

She added: “We have known May Martin for a number of years, she’s a fantastic tutor.”

Wantage mum-of-two Juliet James attended one of Ms Martin’s courses at the craft school last year.

The 38-year-old teacher said: “When you have been on a course like May’s it makes you look at things differently.

“It definitely makes you more aware of what you can do without spending an absolute fortune on clothes.”

Jo Watkins, owner of Darn It and Stitch in Blue Boar Street, Oxford, said her sewing classes were always full.

She said: “It’s not a surprise to me because it has been on the rise.

“Most people who come to our classes are in their 20s or 30s and didn’t learn sewing at school.”

Carol Haden-Jones, from The Ballroom Emporium in The Plain, Oxford, said: “There has definitely been an increase in people buying fabrics and furnishing fabric because people want to have something different. They want to customise something.”

The Great British Sewing Bee is on BBC2 on Tuesdays at 8pm.