Would it be unconventional, on a quilt that is partly pieced but primarily appliqued, to do the applique designs in fabric paint instead of sewing on all those little pieces of fabric?

mmmmm.... that is interesting. I guess it could be wonderful or it could be a disaster...yes, it would be unconventional. It depends on the quilt. It depends on the design --- is it modern? or traditional? I think you could pull it off with a modern design. Are you good at painting fabric? Sometimes fabric paint is stiff. Fabric dye might be better. Adding an outline or filling in the veins with embroidery would be cool. Can you post a picture of what is done so far?

I guess I thought you were doing leaves. oops

Well, it is your project and there are no quilt police here so I say if you want to......go for it.

I belong to a paint club too and every year since I can remember (way back in the 70's) we've raffled off a quilt at our fall craft show called Kris Kringle. The blocks have always been hand painted by our members and they have always been absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! You can buy acrylic fabric paint or there's a medium that you can purchase to put in regular acrylics to make them fabric ready. If you use regular acrylics without adding the medium the fabric will be REALLY stiff. The medium or the fabric paints are very soft and pliable. Read up on it, there's plenty of books available on the subject and probably tutorials, utube videos and everything else. Acrylic wall paint and acrylic paints are NOT the same thing. Look for Deco Art, Plaid, Ceramcoat, or something along that line in your local Micheals, Joann's, Hobby Lobby or even Walmart has a few. Just make sure that if they aren't fabric paints you add the medium. You might also want to practice on a few pieces to know just how to do it. It's usually a "no or very little water added" project. You also need some good stiff fabric brushes. They usually have stiff white bristles.

My Grandmother Used to make quilts and used to paint the blocks. She used Aunt Martha transfers but the paint was called Tri-chem.They are tubes with a ball point roller ( like a pen). I think they still sell them.. What is good is you can wash and wash and it holds up great.

I have a book that does just that. Haven't done it yet myself but it's on my list. I say go for it.

are you talking about using the "puffy" paint around the applique instead of stitching them down?

I myself have never had good luck with the stuff on other projects. It can be VERY messy and sometimes it comes off really easy after it has dried exp. in the washer. I personally would not use it on a quilt!

Now if you are talking about actually using fabric paints (non puffy paint kind) and painting the WHOLE "applique" instead of using fabric then I think it could be beautiful like other posters have said. But puffy paints. ahhhh.

Acrylic paints tend to stay on fabric much better in my experience than puff paints.

You can get applicator tips to use to outline around the appliques raw edges, they usually are right in with the small bottles of acrylic paint, if you wanted to do this.
I found a package that had 3 plastic tips and also 3 metal ones with different sized openings.

I have also seen where people outline the areas with stitches, and then fill in with inks or paints.

There are inks out there that you can use, or mix with clear aloe vera gel to keep them from spreading so much too. Lots of techniques for this, I have spent hours on YouTube watching videos on using inks on fabrics.

It is all up to you, and the look you are trying to achieve.

Practice on different fabrics, more loosely woven may not work as well as more closely woven. :D:D:D

I paint them with Shiva Paintstiks. If you smear the paint on the back of freezer paper and paint with small brushes, the look is great. I have done a few with acrylic paints and even one with water colors (yes, it got water spilled on and the smears made it look great).

This stuff isn't used much any longer because the new products are so much better and don't affect the hand of the fabric anywhere near as much as the Tri-chem did. Go with what Raptureready described and I think you'll be very pleased with the results. Good luck and have fun!