I heavily starch my background fabric yardage before cutting when doing machine applique. This works for me for either invisible machine applique (a la Harriet Hargrave) and also for satin stitch applique. If you do not stabilize your background fabric in some way, chances are it will stretch and distort while you stitch around the applique and the resulting piece will be ruffled and uneven. I like starch because it washes out later and leaves the applique soft.
For starch I mix a 1:1 solution of Sta Flo liquid laundry starch and water, "paint" this onto the background fabric using a large wall painting brush (my kitchen island works well for this), wait a minute or two to make sure the solution penetrates the fibers, toss in my dryer, and iron with steam. All this is done *before* I cut my background pieces (and I usually cut them an inch bigger just in case, although typically the background fabric does not draw up when I use starch).
My favorite machine method is freezer paper applique. I use Elmer's white paste instead of a glue stick to turn the edges under. After the entire quilt is applique, I turn to the back and trim the background fabric to 1/2" or so underneath the appliques. Then I use a small brush to apply water to all the applique edges (softens the paste) and remove all the freezer paper. This is the fastest and most efficient way I have found to handle a lot of machine applique for a quilt top.