Step inside the Cotton Club, and you are greeted by brightly-lit shelves filled with enticingly colourful and delicately-patterned rolls of fabric, making even somebody as clumsy with a sewing needle as me wish they could be skilful.

Linda Kerswill has turned the premises for her Bampton shop, where she moved last July, into an Aladdin's Cave of delights for those who have, or who aspire to such skills, and one which her customers will travel many miles to visit.

Mrs Kerswill is the third owner of the business and this is its third home. It was founded in 1986, with the first two owners concentrating mainly on fabrics for dresses and soft furnishings.

Mrs Kerswill's own specialty is quilting and patchwork, and this has become the main focus of the shop. She has also returned to selling mostly natural, rather than synthetic, fabrics, including sewing and embroidery threads and knitting wools for babywear.

The Cotton Club also runs sewing classes, from the beginners' stage to advanced techniques. The big advantage of the new premises is that they provide space for a classroom.

When she took over the business she did the teaching herself but she now has three part-time tutors who run the classes, while she continues to help customers with their purchases.

The classes may be once a week, once a month, or single one-day courses. There is a big take-up and before she had her own classroom, Mrs Kerswill used to hire premises.

She said: "I enjoy seeing people each week doing something a little more difficult than the previous one. Eventually it all comes together for them - and it's quite magical."

Sewing has always been part of her life.

"I sewed when I was a child, dressmaking followed and then when I got married, I made curtains, clothes for the children and for myself."

When her youngest child started at playgroup, she decided she would like to do something for herself.

"I joined the Ridgeway Quilters in Wantage. When I was chairman of that group, I realised there was a need for another in Wantage, because there was so much interest.

"So I started the King Alfred group, which meets in the evenings." Both groups are still thriving and hold regular exhibitions, often at the Vale and Downland Museum in Wantage.

Members have supported the charity Project Linus, which gives help to children going through a traumatic time and have made cheerfully colourful quilts for them.

Mrs Kerswill has also been involved in a project of the Quilters' Guild, nationally, to draw up a database documenting details of the many quilts that may have been handed down from earlier generations, to build up a history of the work.

An event was held in Grove where families were invited to take along their treasures so information could be recorded, including the name of the maker, the date and anything else known.

"Like other domestic crafts, they have been under-valued in the past," said Mrs Kerswill.

"But now they have become properly respected and items such as samplers have taken on a great value."

As well as her interest in sewing, Mrs Kerswill brought a professional sales and demonstrating background to running her business, having worked in the fabric departments of stores in Oxford, Henley and Cheltenham.

Shoppers in other towns still often have the benefit of her advice, as she is invited to take the shop out' to events such as the recent two-day exhibition by the local patchwork and quilting group in Newbury.

Work by quilters who have learnt their skills at the Cotton Club will be on display at two exhibitions in the West Oxfordshire Arts Association's gallery in Bampton during August.

This is an annual event and this year there are so many exhibits they are being shown over a couple of two-week periods, one of beginners' work and one of more advanced techniques.