motifs in clothes-canes

Hi all

I'm new in polymer clay, and I'm trying to do sculptures. I'd like to
dress my little people with polymer dresses. My problem is with the
motifs, I've tried to do square canes (with four flowers, for
instance) and then put them on top of a thin layer of polymer. My
problem is that I end up with different thicknesses of motifs and when
I pass the layer through the pasta machine they distort a lot. Also,
sometimes they break. What can I do?

Thanks