Tried appilque today..and while it isn't horrible..it needs LOT of work.

I put fusible stuff on the back cut out my pieces (no pattern since it was practice) stuck em down and started with satin stitch. I messed around with the stitch on a regular scrap till I thought I was happy with it.

Then got to work..need to know:

1. How to go around corners
2. When doing flowers (or anything really) how do you get around all the parts that over lap. Like on the flower each petal meets the center..but then what? Do you start and stop doing each petal then go round the middle or do you plan your route so you start and stop the fewest times possible..

3. How to go smoothly around curves...when going round the petals my needle was in the right position but when I got to the other side I had to move the sample round and fiddle with it to get the needle going over the right parts instead of the background.

I have a janome XL601...can someone tell me what the stitch symbols are that are good for applique?

Here are some pics front and back..(tried to put them here but it won't allow so pls forgive the links)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ewing/app4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ewing/app3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ewing/app2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ewing/app1.jpg

Plus if there are any really good videos please link...I'm not good with written directions..
Cheers