soft fuse is wonderful.
When you cut am applique you have traced the shape... now trim the inside of the shape of the SAS so it is just a 1/4 or so.
Then iron to the fabric and cut around the outer lines for the shape... then when you pull off the paper all you have is bonding around the outer edge of the applique... your work will be much softer . Also are you sure you are using the lite sew SAS?