Now that #SeptTextileLove is over, we’ve had a bit of time to think about what we learned, the amazing makers we met and how much fun we all had!

Firstly, all of us here at seam would like to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who took part or followed the hashtag. While it might be a cliche, we really couldn’t have done it without you.

In the first few days of the challenge many participants commented on how excited they were about sharing their love of textiles and other people they were keen to introduce the challenge to.

“It’s a textiles themed one, so impossible not to join in”

Others were a little dubious, having never successfully completed a social media challenge before or being nervous about sharing their work and themselves to an unknown audience.

“I love this month as it’s always full of new hopes, beginnings and promises, so I’ve decided to join in”

It was also lovely to see that contributors were looking forward to what other makers shared, meeting other makers virtually online and being inspired by those in the community.

“Looking forward to connecting with and being inspired by other textile lovers!”

As the month progressed there were comments from people following the hashtag #SeptTextileLove saying how much they were enjoying it and that they were tempted to join in.

“These group challenges are great for personal discipline but also to connect with and discover inspiring people”

This was a common theme, as participants talked about how they’d done “a few of these now” and found them to be “really motivating” and “great to see what others are up to”.  Others mentioned the focus and reflection it would bring to their practice during September.

Through the daily prompts and the posts everyone shared, we all got to know each other a little better, connect with people in similar locations or through a shared discipline, and look forward to each other’s posts the next day. People from all over the world took part and this made it even more interesting to see how the connections evolved.

One interesting outcome from the ‘blog’ prompt was that many people have a blog or have thought about starting one, although the emergence of Instagram has now superseded the blog or idea of it. This is mainly because of the image-based nature of Instagram and how it’s a bit like micro-blogging; you don’t need to write too much to tell a story to go with your gorgeous image.

Many participants thanked us for organising the challenge, letting us know how rewarding it had been, how many incredible textile makers they’d discovered and how much FUN they’d had. For us at seam, this meant it had all been worthwhile – we’d started out with an idea to build a community based on a love of textiles and to give our members an opportunity to improve their Instagram skills – we achieved all of this and so much more.