community of dyers

Ok- I am ready to start my first dyeing project, but I have one more question. On the instructions on the DHarma website, It gives instructions for general amounts of powdered dye to use in various gallons of water. The washing machine instructions give amounts for 8 gallons of water. My machine's owners manual did not tell me how many gallons per each water load, so I figured it out the old-fashioned way- I filled in on a mini load setting and hand scooped it out measuring it as I went. I couldnt get all of the water out, but I think my machine holds 6 gallons at that setting. Should I just count it as 8 and just go with it, or do I need to recalculate the measurements of everything for exactly 6 gallons? I want very vibrant colors (red and green).

I began using Procion MX dyes to obtain desired patterns and colors for quilt backgrounds with applique. Applique is my main interest, going for patterns and designs that tend toward realistic images of flowers, vegetation, and animals.

I've developed a "reference set" for color mixtures using Pimatex. Pimatex seemed ideal for fine curves and points for applique, but when layered with other Pimatex pieces it is very tough to sew. I then tried some of the same formulas with muslin, but using the same mix on same size of muslin gives a much duller and lighter final color.

I love the colors obtained with LWI, and have done mainly fat quarters. A few ventures into larger projects have been fun - got a pretty amazing spiral design on a Pimatex quilt back for my grandson....had wanted to try hand-quilting that, but Pimatex is too tough.

I've been working on a custom order for a customer who liked some dresses I did where the color gradually went from purple to pink, only this customer wanted brown to pink. I've had mixed luck with browns, but I finally decided to take it on and got them dyed earlier this week while the weather was good. Used Jacquard Cocoa Brown for the brown, Bubble Gum Pink with a bit of extra fuchsia at the bottom, and since the brown and pink didn't blend well (made purple, actually), used just one intermediate color with both. Most of the dresses and leggings is brown, with 1-3" of pink at the bottom, and *mostly* a pretty gradual blend despite the purple where the blue haloes into the pink - it's not as obvious when the dye is dry, so not as worrisome as I originally feared.

I have been using Procion MX dyes from Dharma Trading and have tried most all the reds and have combined them but am having a hard time getting a true red on cottons. I'm so used to dyeing on silk and know what to expect but not with cotton. I've added the proper amount of soda ash, tried adding salt too but I either get a maroon color or the reds tend to be more pink. Any suggestions? Does someone have a good method and/or dye color mix to get good reds?

Reds I've used Oxblood, Chinese, Pagoda, Fire and Jungle. I've added some black to dry and deepen the color and then it's more maroon.

I want to dye some cotton pants with Dharma fiber reactive dye. I want to use the washer. I have done this before but the color washes out after about ten washings. I used soda ash as a fixative but did not use any salt to help push the dye into the fibers. I also used something called Retayne to help with washfastness in the rinse cycle. I kept the pants immersed in the dye for about an hour in a warm temperature before rinsing. I did get a good color result but it does not last. What can I do differently the next time for a longer lasting color?

OK, I seem to have most of my poop in a group, have done some research but have a couple ? First, when they say you might need to soften your water, does this mean the water you mix your dye/urea with? Or does your rinse/wash water need to be softened. I have uber hard water here, and no softener system. I also make handmade soaps, and have snow water saved in jugs for this, but not enough for washing my items.

And on another note, if I dilute my dyes down to get a pastel effect, will this increase any odd "halo" colors I may encounter? I seem to have this idea for doing some pastel-y designs....

I've got a set of custom-dyed scrubs from Dharma in the washer right now, and at the moment I'm really REALLY worried!!!!! I used EXACTLY the same red and black on them, from the same bottle, at the same concentration, moments apart (one right after the other, many many hours ago). They batched for the same amount of time, plus or minus two minutes.

The black on one piece is noticeably lighter than the black on the other (and I added EXTRA black dye powder when I mixed it this morning to prevent that), and the red is noticeably more orange-y on one than the other. I don't think it's the same piece - I think the darker black and more orange-y red are on the same piece and the lighter black but more accurate red are on the other, but the washer is spinning right now and I don't want to risk it.

Let's say that I've run out of soda ash and I can't get any washing soda or PH Up either. Is there anything else that works? My soda ash is in the mail from Dharma, and I can *probably* get some washing soda at the store, but I'm just curious if there were any other possibilities. I just did a test for my own edification and found out that no, baking soda does not help at all (I thought it might be better than *nothing*, but it isn't).

It's just the pH that's relevant, right? Ammonia is a strong base - can I use that? Any ideas?

It's not a desperate situation, I'm mostly just curious abo

I am in the process of doing a custom dyed dress for someone that involves using black dye. Following the suggestion in the Dharma Catalog, I used their #250 Jet Black which is supposed to be their most concentrated black and deepest black used in tub dyeing. When I rinsed and laundered, I found that the color is a very deep dark blue-ish black. I'm wondering if it is feasible to overdye with one of the other black dyes to get the color closer to real black as opposed to blue-black? Any suggestions or comments?
Judy
P.S. I think I got this result before but forgot... dang!

I know the dye solutions will keep longer with refrigeration, but after refrigeration and bringing them to room temperature to work with, which might take an hour or two, have they lost much of their power? I guess I'm really asking how long they can last outside of refrigeration and how often they can change from 75 degrees to 40 degrees and back?

I've always worn plain white cotton crew socks but always wanted lots of colors instead. None of the stores have 'em and they're hard to find on the internet, so I delved into the dying thing for the first time. It was a lot of work, but they turned out pretty good. What used to be a boring bunch of plain white socks is now a variety of cool colors to wear! Just what I've always wanted. Finally!

I used Dharma dyes, salt, soda ash and a 5-gallon bucket from Wal-Mart.

Hi there everyone. Have posted questions before about procion dyes and the environment and have just spent a bit of time reading everything I could find on this site about organic,natual dyes, washout, septic systems, dye structures etc. However, still have more questions.....

I live in the rainforest where everything is run on solar and gas. We use a genorator when solar cuts out and will use it run a washing machine for washout process. All the water we use here just runs into the forest which is Ok because everyone uses special soap etc for washing. What happens if the water from dye washout goes on the ground?? I am trying to figure out if a small amount running into one designated area where there is just overgrown grass would be OK, or if it would be super nasty? Any ideas??

Hi - am new to this forum and new to dying..I've been playing around with the PRocion MX dyes on small projects for about a year. Am currently working on a much larger project and don't want to have any issues when I wash the fabric at the end.

I'm working on silk organza and don't want to use soda ash as a fixative - I think it's too harsh for silk and because I can only work on the project on weekends, the soda ash would have to sit on the fabric too long..don't want any holes in the organza unless I put them there!

I've read about using vinegar to set the MX dyes...either in a steaming process or using citric acid crystals in the dye paint process. My questions are:

Hi - I have been dyeing seriously for several years, less so going back to 1996. I taught one class to a group from my quilt guild four years ago, and learned a lot from that! (What not to do.) Now I'm doing some one-on-one teaching and will be teaching something at a quilt retreat in three months. I'm considering teaching dyeing at the retreat, because there are no facilities at the quilt shop where I teach sewing-related classes.

I have a customer who wants a bright "classic" orange. Not sure what classic is, but the orange I usually use is a dark rusty orange (I call if Terracotta) and not exactly what she's looking for.

If you have pics of dyes or combos of dyes you've used from Dharma that produce bright orange, could you post them here?

Thanks very much,

Sarah Jackson

One difficulty I run into when dyeing my batiks is that every dye bath with the same dye hue (Dharma procion mx) comes out differently, even when I weigh my dye on a digital scale, measure my liquid volume, keep the water temperature consistent, and time the entire process. How can I achieve a consistent hue?

I'm wondering if I could achieve better consistency of hue by using direct application instead? I've had good results with using a mix of thickener, dye and dissolved soda ash painted on with a foam brush. I'm not crazy about this method because it's very messy. Even though I work on a plastic covered large table, the clean up is more time consuming than just pulling the plug in my utility sink! Also, I do notice that you have to work fast. Even letting the mixture sit for 15 minutes will change the hue pretty noticeably.

I see some threads on individual colors, but I hope no one minds if I start a new general thread to list things we've noticed about Procion colors. I've noticed some things that I've never seen documented, so I thought I'd list them and maybe some of the more experienced dyers here have more info to share with me, too.

I use the Dharma dyes, so those are the color names I know ... I hope that's OK.

Lemon Yellow - spreads aggressively. Used in a dyebath with tightly tied items, the yellow gets in everywhere - no white left! Mixed with other colors, the yellow tends to spread out more and leave yellow edges on everything. (Actually, I've noticed this is true of yellows in general.)

Paula, this question is for you, but I welcome comments from others as well. I have seen several posts about mixing dye powder into pre-mixed dye that has been sitting for awhile and I'm wondering if this is really a viable way to extend the life of the dye liquid? I have mostly tossed dyes that might have already been exhausted because they sat for longer than I thought they should, because the few times I used them I was disappointed in the intensity. My feeble idea of the bonding of dye molecules to water molecules is shaky at best, but it seems to me that if I have 16 ounces of liquid that contains the proportion of dye powder to water I usually use for medium strength color, and the dye has set for long enough for the dye molecules to bond to the water molecules, what will happen if I add more dye powder? Will the new dye molecules then be free to bond to my fabric if I use the dye within a reasonable amount of time? And if I don't, what will happen?

I keep seeing dyed items for sale that are labeled as being made with "low impact" fiber reactive dyes. I guess my question is: is there such an animal? I understand that about 75% of the procion mx FR dyes I use bond to the fabric. The remainder washes out into the storm drain. If a dye like turquoise that contains copper is washed out, copper is being discharged into the storm drain, along with sodium carbonate.

Is it accurate to call fiber reactive dyes "low impact"? Has anyone who dyes done a test on their discharge water to test it for concentration of heavy metals?

Thanks.

Hi there, I hope someone can help with this problem. I tried dyeing sinamay with acid dye which turned out very badly. I was informed that I should be using Procion dye and so tried that this morning. It was going very well, the colour was just what I wanted until I dried the sinamay. I hung it on the line - just for 10 minutes in the weak Welsh sun - and it changed colour, from a lovely red violet to a much bluer colour. It also went very dull and flat and the colour was very patchy. There are remnants of the original colour where the pegs were which made me wonder if it was the sun but I have been advised that its unlikely. I actually got pretty much the same disasterous result as when I used the acid dye.