I'd paper piece the smaller blocks you want to make. Finely woven fabric, starch if you want, use a smaller machine needle. I use a Microtex Sharp needle size 70/10. I paper piece a lot and have done several with really small pieces. Trim seam allowances to 1/8", use a short stitch = size 1.5 or 2.0 if not paper piecing. Press seams after each seam carefully. Some seams need to be pressed open if lots of seams will be piled up on top of each other. This is not possible when pp, tho, unless you use the freezer paper method and aren't sewing thru the paper. If fusing really small pieces, use a good tweezers or 2 of them to help you out. Work with no interruptions, while doing this fusing or you might make an error.