It's helpful to have a sketch of the entire appliqué, especially for complex layouts. Tape the sketch on top of a light box (improvise with a lamp placed under a glass table) and center the background fabric on top of it. Tape the fabric along edges to keep it secure. Arrange your motifs to match the drawing. Pin in place, move to ironing board, remove pins and press. You might need to create a pressing board for large projects.
Parchment and tracing papers are translucent and can be used to create sketches from printed layouts.
If you like, place your sketch under an appliqué press sheet, arrange the motifs and press the entire unit at one time. Peel it away from the press sheet and position on the background. Press in place as a single unit.
There are endless ways to work with fusible web. Once you've completed a few projects you'll discover your own best assembly methods.
