For machine applique you'll definitely want a stabilizer under there, and if it's been a while you should give it another shot -- or five; like anything else it takes practice!
However, no matter how much I practice I still feel like an oaf when I use machine applique, so I've changed entirely over to all hand applique. Turns out I like the technique and the results much better, too.
Definitely search for applique techniques on YouTube; I found a lot of fantastic information there when I was starting out, and still search for new nuggets of information all the time.