Years ago, you did your fancy decorative machine stitches with adding machine tape as a stabilizer. It could be a bear to remove, but you didn't have puckers.
If you don't like paper, there is embroidery stabilizer that washes away. You can draw on it. I've used a single layer for stand alone lace which is high stitch count. The stuff comes on a roll, and you can cut what you need into strips or whatever.