With machine applique, I just do a few very small stitches at the beginning and again at the end on top of the first stitches. I don't backstitch. Those tiny stitches seem to hold pretty well. I leave a tail and pull the threads to the back later, but I don't bother to knot the threads.
I do not use a stabilizer under the background fabric. Instead, I starch the background fabric yardage heavily before cutting into blocks. For this I use a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo laundry starch and water, "paint" the solution on with a large wall painting brush, wait a couple of minutes to make sure the fibers have had time to absorb the starch, toss in the dryer, then iron with steam. This makes the background fabric sufficiently stiff so that I don't need to use a stabilizer.
Last edited by Prism99; 09-06-2014 at 06:44 PM.