Pam, You could use a sticky, wash away stabilizer. Stick the stabilizer to the handkerchief, then applique it to a background fabric. Once washed, the stabilizer is gone and the blocks would not be too stiff. Nancy Zeeman uses it for stabilizing fabric for embroidery, which is too small to properly clamp in the hoop. She clamps a large piece of the stabilizer then sticks the fabric to it.