I am making an quilt top that will have quite a lot of applique on it. The large center motif is created by hundreds of tiny, tiny strips of material laid on top of each other to create color shading, placed under a fine netting dyed to color coordinate and then FMQ onto a backing fabric. Due to the large quantity of the tiny strips, this comes out looking as if it is puff quilted. This entire piece is to be appliqued onto the front of quilt top when it is pieced together.
The rest of the appliques are regular construction. My question is, what different ways is there to apply the appliqued pieces so that they will stand up to animals , grandchildren, and frequent washings other than a small satin stitch? I want the applique method to be as non-visual as possible. I know hand methods will not stand up to the wear and tear this quilt will receive. I hope someone has a unique solution. I think a blanket stitch is not formal looking enough and I don't know of any other stitch.

A small zigzag stitch by machine works very well. You can do it with invisible thread or same color as the fabric, and it will pretty much disappear. I use this when I am doing machine applique, and I like it a lot.

If you are looking for something that will really be bullet proof, you can fuse the appliques to the top, then zigzag as above. I'm not crazy about this because it makes the applique stiff, but they sure will wear will.

Steam a Seam2 fusible & stitch down by machine applique stitch.

I was hoping for someone to know of another stitch that was less noticeable than the satin stitch, but thank you for the
suggestions. I am guessing that one advantage of the fusing is that the quilt won't be wrinkling where the applique is. Maybe I ought to fuse the whole thing. Imagine a bed that wouldn't wrinkle. LOL

My GF is working with fusible thread. I know nothing about it but thought I would throw it out there.

If I don't want the stitching to be noticable, I fuse it on with Heat N Bond light and then use a very small straight stitch approx 1/8" from the edge of the applique. It is very time consuming, but, works well and holds up great.

Thank you everyone!

Also i always use heat and bond to put the applique on befor zig zagging it or satin stitching it .

I love the fusible machine applique. A tiny zig zag stich is hardly noticable at all. Practice it on something, and you will see. I like it better than the straight stitch, but that works well also. Also, I use the fusible applique, and after I iron the pieces onto fabric and cut them out, before I iron them down on the background, I use a fabric glue stick and arrange all the pieces the way they should be, by applying a tiny bit of glue stick to each piece and pressing it into place. This way they are all where they should be, and then I can iron them down, and I am ready to machine applique and don't have to worry about any pieces coming lose. Try it, you will see what I mean, but just a wee bit of glue stick applied. The glue stick is also very good to use to just anchor the pieces, when you are hand appliqueing the fusible applique pieces. Sometimes, when you iron the pieces to the fabric and start to work, they come lose and fall off. The tiny bit of glue stick prevents them from falling off.