There are a lot of different kinds of backing for embroidery. Tear-away, light, medium & heavy weight leave in, and water soluable.

I'm not sure why tear away wouldn't work for your project...you could embroider your ducks, tear away the backing, and then cut it down to the right size block. Water soluable works the same way, but after stitching you can use a spray bottle and the backing will just disappear. If you use a light weight backing, it shouldn't feel too much different if you simply leave it in and sew it into your seam allowances.

hope that helps.

Thank you Jennifer. I had not thought about water soluble, I have not used much of that. I think I will give that a try. Blessings.