A FAMILY business which opened its first shop in Marlow over a quarter of a century ago is celebrating a national accolade as well as seeing its wares used on a top TV show.

Lady Sew and Sew on Institute Road was named the best independent haberdashery in the south east by national title Sew Magazine.

The sewing, fabric and knitting shop was also called upon to supply fabric for BBC Two’s popular Great British Sewing Bee, with contestants using cotton from the store to create their garments for judging in the competition.

And over three million people tuned in to see the seamstress using the shop's fabric to fashion their weird and wonderful creations during the show's grand final last week.

Judy Edwards, who along with her parents started the business over 5 years ago, said: "It’s fantastic to win, the first we knew about it was when we were told we made it into the final selection process and we were entered into six categories.

"We supplied the fabric for the Sewing Bee through our suppliers, they recommended us because the fabric was needed quickly. Our fabric is the one you can see on the shelves on the show and is used by the dressmakers.

"Quite a few of our customers are entering the next series and hopefully we are going to carry on supplying the cotton for the next series."

Lady Sew and Sew was also named the third best shop in the country for customer service and third best online store for fabrics.

Judy works at the growing fabric empire alongside her mother Joy Blogg, a former Great Marlow School teacher, her sister and her brother in law.

The business also has a premises in Henley and sells at a market in Bracknell, and has been at its current Marlow home in Institute Road for 20 years.

Knitting and dressmaking has enjoyed a huge resurgence in recent years, with Judy putting the surge in popularity down to celebrities like Kirsty Allsop bringing the practice back into vogue.

She added that more young people are taking it up, with many schools introducing after-school knitting clubs for their creative pupils.