Sew . . . just how hard can it bee?

You’d think people might have run up a pair of curtains or two before splashing out on a sewing machine . . . but you’d think wrong.

“I know, it’s a bit crazy, isn’t it? I was running before I could walk but I’ve always wanted to sew,” said Ellen Fowler, a teacher from Kidlington, sat in front of her shiny red John Lewis model, unused since she got it a year ago.

But she was in the right place to finally become mistress of the bobbins at a Get To Grips With Your Sewing Machine course at Ardington School of Crafts, near Wantage. And - according to tutor and TV personality May Martin - she had the perfect attribute to learn . . . enthusiasm.

“I can teach anyone who wants to sew but they have to have the enthusiasm,” said May, a classically trained seamstress, who remains as passionate about her craft as when she started 40 years ago.

“Sometimes at demonstrations people will come up and say ‘I hate sewing’, so I tell them not to bother, life’s too short.”

What she really loves is enabling people to learn new skills and complete their projects. “Teaching is a passion and I absolutely love it. When they get that lightbulb moment it’s wonderful,” said Mary, who looks a good ten years younger than her age of 62.

She’s been married to husband David for nearly 40 years and has two sons, James, 33, an investment banker and Graham, 29, a motorsport engineer. “When we were first together we were both students and didn’t have any money so I used to make my husband’s trousers. I’ve made waistcoats for the men in the family, the boys’ shorts . . . and all their stuff until it wasn’t cool for mum to make their clothes any more.”

Cool is what sewing is becoming again. There’s a real trend towards younger women picking up their needles and a few young males too - May taught one man how to sew canvas to create a yurt.

“My classes have always been busy but the age range has changed in the past 10 years, it’s become really obvious that the younger ones are hungry to learn. People who didn’t learn to sew at school, who have no sewing skills at all.”

Women like Nadja Middleton, 39, of Oxford, who also had her machine before knowing how to use it. However she was already booked on the course when she was given the machine by a friend. “I had been wanting to learn how to use a machine for a long time,” said Nadja, a warden at St Clare’s Oxford and a primary school teaching assistant.

“My mother was a good seamstress but she never taught me.”

Housewife Colleen Arnott, 51, of Wantage, was on the course because she had “craft envy”. She had used her machine before but had to get a more experienced friend to come round to thread it and load the bobbin for her.

“I’ve learnt loads and it’s increased my confidence,” said Colleen, who’s ready to tackle cushion covers on her own now.

“The student demographics have changed over the years from the retired person who sewed as a hobby, to the young folk who leave babies and toddlers at nursery or with mum or a friend,” said May.

“These young mums are hungry for knowledge and quiz me about everything! “They didn’t learn to sew at school and I have changed their creative lives. They come to me for the nuts and bolts of needlecraft and I advise them on choosing a machine, show them how to use it and then help them turn there fabric into their chosen project.”

And it doesn’t stop there. “They blog the knowledge they have gained in class - one of my students takes photos or films in class, gets together with friends in their houses or rents a hall for a day and then they sew together,” said May. “They share what I teach them with their friends with my blessing. It’s brilliant – I love the fact that they cascade what they learn in class to a wider audience.”

As for Ellen, 45, she has finally got the “creative outlet not related to work” she hoped for. “It’s embarrassing but what I want to make now is bunting,” she said with a smile.

For craft courses – mostly at £65 a day plus materials and including coffee, cake and a light lunch – at Ardingdon School of Crafts see www.ardingtonschoolofcrafts.com or telephone 01235 833433.

MORE ABOUT MAY

May is now preparing to go on The Great British Sewing Bee diet.

“I lost a stone during the first series, I was so nervous. It was just adrenaline. One of my students saw the first episode and said ‘you were so quiet’, which isn’t like me. It was because I was terrified,” said May, who was one of the judges on the BBC Two series which aired earlier this year, along with debonaire Patrick Grant, who runs the Savile Row tailors Norton & Sons.

You wouldn’t have guessed, unless you knew the bubbly seamstress off screen, and she soon got in her stride.

In the show, presented by Claudia Winkleman, May and Patrick set three challenges an episode, covering every aspect of dressmaking, tailoring and alterations. The eight contestants were whittled down to a winner over the course of four episodes.

It was such a success – “we held three million viewers all the way through, which is unheard of” – that May is to film a Christmas special and a new series of eight episodes to air next year.

“I’m nervous but excited too,” said May, who teaches at the WI’s Denman College in Marcham, near Abingdon, as well as at Ardington School of Crafts.

The winner of the last series was Ann Rowley, 82, of Birmingham. Did May know from the beginning that the granny who started sewing when she was six would win? “She would have really had to screw up not to,” said May, with refreshing candour.