Colorways By Vicki Welsh
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        • Spinning Stars Quilt
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    • Surface Design Tutorials >
      • Ice Dyeing tutorial
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      • Hold the Retayne
      • Painted Shower Curtain Tutorial
      • Metallic Paint Effects on Fabric
      • Curing Metallic Fabric Paints
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      • Life of MX Dye Concentrates
      • Testing Soda Ash in fabric dyeing
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    • Basic Tutorials >
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      • The longarm machine does matter
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      • Crochet Wheelchair Shawl
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Shelf Life of Procion MX Dye Concentrates

With dyeing, everyone has a different approach, different rules and different beliefs. I find that a lot of what people know about dyeing is not necessarily based on testing but on someone else's assumption that is passed on as fact. I have learned that just because it is written in a book that it doesn't necessarily mean that it's scientific fact.
That leads me to doing a lot of testing on my own. Because I rely so much on dye recipes it's important to know how long my dye concentrates last. I know that I have had problems when I make a recipe with an old dye. 
In 2011 I set out to test this for myself. I made up a complete set of my dye concentrates. I only use 11 dyes (10 primaries and 1 black). Each week I used those original dye concentrates to dye a set of fat quarters in each color. That's 11 fat quarters every week until the color became noticeably weaker. I dyed the color one week beyond the date it weakened just to make sure I didn't have some sort of anomaly going on.
I kept the dye in the refrigerator between dye sessions and I made sure that my batching temperature and batching time (3 hours) was consistent each time.
Picture
The top row of fabrics is the control group and the bottom row are the fabrics when they first showed they were weakening. I know it's difficult to see the different with the cobalt, orange, black and deep yellow but trust me, there is a difference!
The colors are the Dharma Trading names. The results are listed below (left to right in the photo). The dye showed the changes the week AFTER this date.
Fuchsia - 56 days - 8 weeks (means 8 weeks of good results and the dyed showed weakness at 9 weeks)
Cobalt - 63 days - 9 weeks
Sky Blue - 35 days - 5 weeks
Deep Orange - 63 days - 9 weeks
Grape - 63 days - 9 weeks
Turquoise - 35 days - 5 weeks
Deep Yellow - 63 days - 9 weeks
Cerulean - 49 days - 7 weeks
Lemon Yellow - 56 days - 8 weeks
Light Red - 56 days - 8 weeks
I did not continue the test to determine when the dye totally fails. I was only interested in when the dye becomes weaker because that's when I have to stop using a concentrate for my recipes. I can still use the dye for other projects (tie dye, quilt backs, clothing, fun fabrics), just not for things like my fabric palettes and gradients that rely on specific recipes. The other reason I do not need to know when a dye will ultimately expire is because I rarely have a bottle of concentrate last longer than 2 months. I go through a lot of dye!
Now I can put some expiration dates on my dye concentrates. Once a dye concentrate passes it's expiration date I will use that dye only for non-recipe based dyeing.
These results may or may not work for you. I encourage every dyer to test their dye concentrates. So many factors contribute to this that I don't think any of us can rely on one set of guidelines for everyone.
Contact
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Copyright © 2024 by Vicki Welsh. All rights reserved. Content from this site may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Vicki Welsh. You are welcome to link and share links to any page on the site.
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • Galleries
    • Quilt Gallery >
      • 2025 >
        • Hanover Country Life Quilt
        • Oak Moth Quilt
      • 2024 >
        • Red SunsetQuilt
        • Big Blue Quilt
      • 2023 >
        • Heirloom Bear
        • Firefighter Quilt
        • The Goldfinch
      • 2022 >
        • Summer Sunset Quilt
        • Soundwave Quilt
      • 2021 >
        • A Big Green Quilt
        • Finally! Quilt
      • 2020 >
        • Jackies Choice Quilt
        • Penguins on Ice Quilt
        • Corona Cats Quilt
        • Kim's Garden
      • 2019 >
        • Indonesian Batik Quilt
        • Lost My Marbles
        • Remaking Flora's quilt
        • I'm Not a Snowflake Quilt
        • Where In The World Is My Cat Quilt
        • Fireworks
        • The Groovy Quilts
        • The Puppy Quilt
      • 2018 >
        • The Maine Quilt
        • Stars At Sea
        • Antelope Canyon Quilt
      • 2017 >
        • The Wedding Quilt Quilt
        • Rainbow's End Quilt
      • 2016 >
        • CSQ Challenge Quilt
        • Wholecloth Quilt of Valor
        • Luras Choice Quilt
        • Black Swan Quilt
        • 2016 Quilt of Valor Quilt
        • Non Unus Pluma Quilt
      • 2015 >
        • Snaps Quilt
        • Batik Crossroads Quilt
        • Wild Goose Chase Quilt
        • Fractured Fragments Quilt
        • Tell It To the Stars Quilt
        • Cathedral Window Quilt
        • Time In Place Quilt
        • Shaken Not Stirred Quilt
        • Pleiades Quilt
      • 2014 >
        • Spinning Stars Quilt
        • Fractured Spiral Quilt
        • Autumn Leaves Quilt
        • Sea Dreams Quilt
        • Woodland Star Quilt
        • Zombie Ball Quilt
        • Innova Angles Quilt
      • 2013 >
        • Murder For a Jar of Red Rum Quilt
        • Patroitic Quilts
        • Red Sunset Bedding Quilt
        • The Infamous Fish Quilt
        • Gratitudes Quilt
      • 2012 >
        • Illuminated Blocks Quilt
        • Kims Wedding Quilt
        • Crossing The South Anna Quilt
        • Coming Home Quilt
        • See Reverse Quilt
        • Overboard Quilt
        • Floras Fans and Modern Crumbs Quilt
        • The Patriot Quilt
        • On Point Quilt
        • Grinch Quilts
      • 2011 >
        • Star Struck Quilt
        • On A Whim Quilt
        • Catena Quilt
        • Zig Zag Scraps Quilt
        • Purple Keepsakes Quilt
        • Fiberactions Challenge Quilts
        • Journal Quilts 2011
      • 2010 >
        • Maggie the Messmaker Cross Stitch
        • Fiberactions Challenge Quilts
        • Wootten Memory Quilts
        • Teal Tomorrow Quilt
      • 2009 >
        • Shereen's Peaceful Garden
        • TShirt Quilt Commission
        • Three Generation Quilt
      • 2008 >
        • Flora's Quilts
        • Monkey Baby Quilts
        • Citrus Quilt
      • 2007 >
        • Snails Trail Quilts
        • Quilts of Valor
        • Other Quilts
      • 2006 and older >
        • Scrap Bin Quilt
        • Flora's Dutchman's Breeches
        • The Gift Quilts
        • Reversible Quilts
        • Spectacular Scraps Quilts
        • Foundation Pieced Quilts
        • Art Quilts
        • Kathy's Memorial Quilt
    • Symmetry Quilt Gallery
    • Dyeing Gallery >
      • Tie Dye Gallery
      • Shibori Gallery
    • Postcard Gallery
    • Fused Glass Gallery
    • Mosaic Gallery
    • Zentangle and Spirograph
  • Tutorials
    • Save My Bleeding Quilt
    • Quilting Tutorials >
      • The Gift Quilt Pattern
      • Keepsakes Quilt Pattern
      • Blocking a Quilt
      • Facing A Quilt Tutorial
      • Veterans Quilt Tutorials >
        • Allegiance Quilt Pattern
        • Gratitudes Quilt Pattern
        • Strength Quilt Pattern
        • Blockade Quilt Pattern
        • Redoubt Quilt Pattern
        • Regiment Quilt Pattern
        • Bars and Stripes Quilt Pattern
      • Rainbow Quilt Free Pattern
      • Binding a Quilt
    • Surface Design Tutorials >
      • Ice Dyeing tutorial
      • Snow Dyeing basics tutorial
      • Snow Dyeing Mandala
      • Sun Printing Tutorial
      • Lamp Printing Tutorial
      • Dyeing extra large fabrics
      • Hold the Retayne
      • Painted Shower Curtain Tutorial
      • Metallic Paint Effects on Fabric
      • Curing Metallic Fabric Paints
      • Zentange Pens
      • Leaf Printing Tutorial
      • Printing On Fabric
      • Life of MX Dye Concentrates
      • Testing Soda Ash in fabric dyeing
    • Placemat Tutorials >
      • Rise and Shine Placemat Tutorial
      • Coming Home Placemat Tutorial
      • Mineral Pool Placemat Tutorial
      • Sugar Maple Placemats
      • Fat Quarter Placemat Tutorial
      • Merry Mats Placemat Tutorial
    • Basic Tutorials >
      • Custom Sewing Table
      • Liquid Spray Starch Recipe
    • Crafts and Small Projects >
      • Surgery Drain Bag Tutorial
      • Drawstring Bag Sewing Tutorial
      • Large Tote Tutorial
      • Big Fabric Flower Tutorial
      • The best potholders pattern
      • Notebook Cover Tutorial
      • Pillowcase tutorial
      • Wide Brim Sun Visor
      • Trash To Treasure Holiday Ornaments
      • Pet Bed From Scraps Tutorial
      • Framed Metal Quilt
      • Shooting Shirt Tutorial
      • Making Paper
      • Making Soap
      • Favorite Soap Reicpes
      • Lotion Making
      • Bowl hot pad pattern
    • Longarm Quilting Tutorials >
      • The longarm machine does matter
      • Double Wavy Crosshatch
      • Wavy Crosshatch Longarm
      • Quilting Letters on a Quilt
      • Centering a Quilt back on a longarm
      • Quilting Snowball Blocks
      • Easy Longarm Piano Keys
      • Using Channel Locks
      • Sewing/Serging quilt backing to zippers
      • Adding backing on the longarm
    • Crochet and Other Tutorials >
      • Crochet Wheelchair Shawl
  • Contact