How was #SeptTextileLove25 for you?

We love hosting #SeptTextileLove! All of us in the seam collective would like to extend our gratitude to everybody who took the time to share their work and the stories behind them this year. THANK YOU!

Each year feels special, but this year felt especially meaningful for me. Because this year’s prompts were based on our ongoing research into working sustainably — both individually and collectively — as part of our Arts Council-funded project Warped and Wasted.

Let’s look back at some of the changes and highlights from this year’s challenge.

Daily Hashtags for #SeptTextileLove25

This year, we tried something new — (I personally loved this change). It sometimes proved a little challenging to find all the posts for each day’s prompt. The introduction of daily hashtags felt like such a positive step forward.

It made everything more organised and ensured that no one’s work was missed or lost amongst the many inspiring posts. Thanks to this small change, we could explore, enjoy, and share the creativity of so many participants more smoothly than ever before.

Sharing Creativity and Gratitude through Yellow Hearts 💛

This year, with the new repost feature on Instagram, it was easier to share our favourite three each day. We didn’t always express directly why each work felt special or what we had learnt from it, we showed our appreciation and admiration in a new way this year — with a yellow heart 💛. It became our quiet way of saying ‘thank you’ and ‘we love your work’. The yellow heart became our symbol of appreciation — a shared gesture of creativity and connection.

Also, we were able to share our own experiments and thoughts on the daily prompts more actively by taking part for the first time. Giving us the opportunity to reflect and explore different aspects of the Warped and Wasted project together as team seam.

It was truly refreshing to see how the ideas we had been thinking about, researching, and experimenting with, were expressed through textiles in various ways — through people’s participation, perspectives, and creative approaches.

Connecting the Creativity: Favourite Posts

As I looked through the challenge each day, what struck me most — alongside people’s wonderful participation — was how naturally we could all connect through it.

30. Favourite Post from Another Participant: This prompt is one of my favourites because it highlights the wonderful #STL textile community and the creativity we share.

Seeing each other’s work, being inspired, and continuing those conversations so effortlessly felt really special. I think that sense of connection is one of the most positive and meaningful aspects of this challenge, felt by me, our members, and everyone who took part.

Before closing, we also wanted to share some reflections from seam members, who helped make this year’s challenge so inspiring.

Our Members’ Words

With the new approach, we’ve also been a bit more active in sharing our experiments, exhibitions, and the ways we’ve tried to run this challenge. Here’s what some of our members thought about it.

It was positive. Benefited seam as well as other participants.  Great prompts. Easier to manage for seam volunteers who could engage as much or a little as their time enabled on their watch. @angieparkertextiles

I love that the yellow hearts caught on. I was amazed at how much there was to say about our Warped and Wasted exhibition and  project – we all could really talk about it in depth, bringing out different aspects of it – team seam at its best! Lovely appreciation by everyone who took part – lots of people saying it’s their favourite time of year. @penelopise

This year’s challenge has come to a close. We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who took part, shared, and supported one another.

The yellow heart 💛 reminded us why #SeptTextileLove25 remains such a special part of our year. We can’t wait to see where next year’s journey takes us! Until then, you can revisit this year’s prompts anytime — each one will lead you back to the creativity and connections we’ve shared.

Next year we are thinking of taking collaboration and connection a step further and asking all of you to suggest prompts! Look out for the callout in June 2026. Really exciting – we can’t wait to see what you suggest and to explore them together!

Glory (Youngye) Cho