Is it needle turn appliqué or fused appliqué? My favourite way to do tiny appliqué stems is part machine sewn and part hand sewn for regular appliqué. I fold a bias strip right side out and place it on the background. I machine stitch a slightly less than 1/4 inch from the fold by machine. I trim the seam allowance close to the machine stitching and then push the fold over the machine line and hand stitch the fold down to the background by hand. I can get my stems quite narrow doing this method.