I've been using a laying tool for a few months now and have recently discovered that I get the best coverage if I lay the tool against the needle as I push the needle through to the back of the fabric, so that the laying tool controls the strands as they go through to the back. I don't remove the laying tool until it's firmly trapped against the surface of the fabric. Seems to work quite well.

Maybe this is how I'm supposed to have been doing it all along and I'm just a bit slow on the uptake, but I thought I'd share it anyway.

Me too. I started using a laying tool since reading that thread a while ago as I'd been wondering how I could improve the look of my stitiching

I noticed that too but I did watch a couple YouTube videos beforehand to see how it's done. I think my stitches do look better now.