I decided to applique small teddy bears in the middle of my blocks...16 of them. The first bear I did, I used a glue stick to adhere the bear and then backed the square with a medium stabilizer, then zigzaged around the bear. To my dismay, the square wouldn't lie flat...it seems puckered. So I tried another square using spray adhesive with no stabilizer on the back and the same thing happened! The square doesn't lie flat. What am I doing wrong?? Can anyone help me??? :cry:

Fusible web like Wonder Under, Heat 'n Bond Lite or the new ones I'm not familiar with. That bear won't be going anywhere.

Lemons? Just kidding!!! Interested in this also, so will watch.

It sounds like a stitch problem to me. I would start by trying different tensions until it looked right. It makes me think that the stitches are just too tight.

I don't use any kind of stabilizer for applique. I starch my base square super stiff. It works well for me.

I will watching ... Too

I agree...

We all are born into this world with one thought, I shall love and be loved...

Maybe lengthen your stitch a tiny bit.

try lengthening your stitch-
one thing about applique is...
it NATURALLY draws up the fabric a little bit-this is why we cut our squares an inch larger than needed, do the appliques then trim the blocks...the process of applique and embroidery cause the fabric to draw up a bit...it is normal- the process of the technique you are using- the drawing up sometimes looks a bit like puckering---you should be able to press pretty flat--but the fabric will still be drawn up a bit- you are not doing anything wrong. If it is actually PUCKERED a looser stitch may help...but if it is simply the natural drawing up- ...
even when hand appliquing it still draws up.
for machine applique i use either an invisible stitch, zig-zag or blanket stitch- with a stablizer- unless i'm using fusable (like heat n bond lite) which is a stablizer on it's own.