September has come to an end, but the ideas and stories shared through #SeptTextileLove26 continue to resonate.

Throughout #STL26, textile artists, makers, designers and enthusiasts came together to respond to daily prompts, sharing their work, practices, and experiments.

This year, content shared through the seam Instagram account received 176,792 views and 8,054 interactions throughout the challenge. Of these views, around 98,000 came from posts, 65,000 from Stories and 14,000 from Reels. We also recorded approximately 4,600 interactions with posts, 2,900 with Stories and 558 with Reels. These figures reflect the enthusiasm and engagement surrounding this year’s challenge.

However, the numbers tell only part of the story. What made #SeptTextileLove26 so special was the creativity, generosity and conversations shared among everyone who took part.

We would once again like to thank everyone who took part, shared their work, responded to the daily prompts and supported one another throughout September. THANK YOU 💛

Thirty prompts, many interpretations

Each day, a new prompt provided a starting point for reflection, interpretation and exchange. Although #SeptTextileLove ran throughout September, the prompts were not intended to form a continuous story or require daily participation. Each day offered a fresh opportunity to take part, whether someone had been following the challenge from the beginning or was joining for the first time. Missing a day did not mean missing out on the next.

Our intention was simply to offer a little textile inspiration each day throughout September, encouraging people to explore new ideas, share their perspectives and engage with textiles in their own way.

What made #SeptTextileLove particularly interesting was not simply the number of responses, but the range of ways in which the same word could be understood.

These three responses to the same prompt show how a single word can inspire very different creative approaches.

Each participant interpreted ‘Oversize’ through their own materials, techniques and perspectives, demonstrating how the same theme can lead to distinct forms of creative expression. For me, this was one of the most enjoyable aspects of #SeptTextileLove: seeing how different people interpreted the same prompt in their own unique ways.

Some responses were immediate and playful, while others opened up longer reflections on creative practice, identity, or process.

Rather than creating collections of similar responses, each prompt gradually became a small archive of different perspectives. The daily posts revealed how differently textile practitioners observed, interpreted and communicated through their work.

Being part of the conversation 💛

As in previous years, we continued to share work from those taking part in the challenge through Instagram Stories and selected three posts that particularly caught our attention for each daily prompt to regram on the seam account. We also occasionally left comments and, continuing a tradition from last year, used yellow hearts 💛 to show our appreciation for the posts we particularly enjoyed.

What was different this year was that we also shared more of our own creative practices. Each day, a different seam member introduced the daily prompt through the seam Instagram account, sharing their own work, interests and interpretations of the theme.

Alongside our individual Instagram accounts, this gave us another way to participate in the challenge and engage with the wider #SeptTextileLove community.

What you had to say

Many people told us that the prompts encouraged them to revisit older work, look at their practice from a different perspective, share processes they would not normally post, or discover practitioners they had not previously encountered.

Very grateful to be a part of a creative collective!

@basdeo_vicky

I’m really enjoying the challenge..so many interesting pieces of textile art.

@sylviesew

I’ve really enjoyed the September Textile Challenge, both taking part and seeing others’ responses. Thank you I have made connections with several other artists.

@studio_atop_atree

Thanks to @seam_collective for the great 30 days of prompts. A great opportunity to just slow down and think about things in a bit more detail.

@adriantextiles

Thank you @seam_collective for inspiring me to participate. I enjoyed seeing all the wonderful creativity! I admire you artists across the pond….so much talent!! Thank you!!👏

@dtalbotart

These responses remind us that #SeptTextileLove is not simply about posting every day. It is also about creating time to reflect, share and connect through textile practice.

#SeptTextileLove is for everyone! 💛

We also received messages from people with questions about #SeptTextileLove. Some wondered whether the challenge was only held in the UK or if people from other countries could join in, while others asked whether it was exclusively for seam members or open to everyone.

#SeptTextileLove is for everyone who loves textiles, wherever they are in the world! Whether you are an artist, designer, maker, or simply someone who enjoys working with textiles, everyone is welcome to take part.

Looking ahead, we hope to encourage even more people to take an active part in #SeptTextileLove, enjoy sharing their work and ideas, and continue building connections within the textile community beyond September.

The challenges of sharing

Some of those taking part also asked how they could make sure their contributions were seen and shared. Some were unsure whether they were using the correct tags or hashtags, while others wondered why their posts had not been featured. These questions encouraged us to reflect on how we could make the sharing process clearer and more accessible to everyone.

During #SeptTextileLove, we do not use Instagram’s Collaboration feature. Instead, we share contributions through Stories and regram selected posts on the seam account. We always try to share as much work as possible, but with so many wonderful posts appearing each day, it can be difficult to keep up with everything!

To help us find and share work more easily, we encouraged everyone taking part to use the relevant daily hashtags, such as #STL26Day1, #STL26Day2, and so on, alongside #SeptTextileLove, #SeptTextileLove26, and #STL26, and to tag @seam_collective in their posts. However, we also recognise that we could do more to make this information clearer and help participants understand how their work can be discovered and shared.

Another challenge was that we were not always able to share everything we wanted to.

Some posts that we particularly loved could not be shared on Stories because the relevant sharing options were not available. It was disappointing to discover work we wanted to highlight but to be unable to share it.

These experiences have given us plenty to think about as we look ahead to next year. We hope to make it easier for everyone to find the daily prompts, understand how to share their work and feel part of #SeptTextileLove.

Beyond September

Although the daily prompts have finished, the conversations do not need to end with September.

The posts remain there to revisit, and there will always be work that was missed during the pace of the daily challenge. We hope you continue exploring #SeptTextileLove26, discovering new practices and returning to conversations that began during the month.

For next year’s challenge, we will be thinking about what new prompts we could introduce and how we might encourage even more people to take part. We also hope to find new ways to support interaction, sharing and connections within the textile community.

Thank you to everyone who took part, whether you posted every day, joined occasionally, commented, shared other people’s work or simply followed along. Together, your contributions created a diverse and evolving picture of textile practice.

And that picture continues beyond September.

Glory