Love the idea of using bits of fusible thread to hold things in place! I use a very small blind hem stitch for machine applique with invisible thread on top. Sharon Schamber has great videos on both machine and hand applique and I took a class with her on machine applique. Kay Mackenzie has several books ( and a blog) on hand applique. She draws the pattern onto the back of background fabric, place a swatch of fabric for the applique on the front of the background. Then she does a running stitch thru both pieces right on the drawn line on the background, then appliques the swatch down. She trims the swatch so it is just outside her stitching lines, then needle turn the edge under, snipping and removing her running stitch as she goes. I found this an easy way for a beginner to learn needle turn.