the present invention provides a process which in a preferred embodiment includes the steps of . applying a hot melt adhesive to a heated roll rotating at an initial tangential speed ; milling the adhesive to a reduced thickness and accelerating said adhesive through a series of metering gaps between a plurality of adjacent heated glue rolls ; applying the adhesive to a conformable glue application roll rotating at a tangential line speed which is higher than the initial tangential speed ; applying the adhesive to a first patterned embossing roll which is engaged with a second patterned embossing roll having a complementary pattern to the first embossing roll , the embossing rolls being heated ; passing a web of sheet material between the first and second embossing rolls at the tangential line speed to simultaneously emboss the web and apply the adhesive to the web , such that the adhesive forms an adhesive pattern between embossments ; transferring the web from the second embossing roll to the first embossing roll ; stripping the web from the first embossing roll ; and cooling the web .