We loved hosting our #SeptTextileLove Instagram Challenge again this year and we want to say a big ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who took part. It’s such a great feeling to be part of building an online community and we miss it now it has finished.

Thanks @seam_collective for posting the #septtextilelove challenge this month & to everyone following my feed & the wider textile community for all their support & encouragement. Fabulous to be able to engage with more textile artists & designers from across the globe!

We had such gorgeous images of your textiles to enjoy every day – such a diversity of work, lace makers, embroiderers, weavers, printers, quilters, dyers, knitters, makers, stitchers, textile groups, researchers, students, lecturers, artists, small businesses etc. from all over the world. We were also fascinated and inspired by everyone’s stories; how you work, your inspiration, what is important to you, and your creativity when responding to each post. It was so hard to choose three images each day to repost!

I have really enjoyed my involvement in Seam Collective’s September Textile Challenge. It has made me look at my work with new eyes and understand the links and influences in it. It has also opened my eyes to some really inspiring artists …

All of seam Collective were involved in making #SeptTextileLove happen, but I would like to especially thank the five hosts: Gill Hewitt, Penny Wheeler, Kate Bond, Angie Parker and Desiree Goodall, who commented and reposted everyday, and Desiree Goodall who had the brilliant idea for #SeptTextileLove in the first place.

… and a big thank you to @seam_collective for setting up the prompts. I loved being involved! I really enjoyed ‘meeting’ other artists who use #cloth and #stitch, it helped me to think about my practice in new ways as I responded to the prompts and it really inspired me to see other people’s posts. Thanks to everyone involved. How about #everydaytextilelove next??

We would also like to say thank you for all the great feedback we got at the end of the challenge , including the lovely quotes in this blog post.

…I just want to say thanks to @seam_collective, this has been a wonderful chance to find out more about techniques that I’ve never tried, or even heard about.

What were your favourite #SeptTextileLove 2018 prompts? What new prompts would you like to see for 2019?

We hope to see you all again for #SeptTextileLove 2019!

Penny Wheeler