This pattern is called Christmas Hodge Podge and I downloaded it last year from Angie's Bits and Pieces. This is what the final wallhanging will look like. The indiviual blocks are featured over a period of a few months and I do them as I print them off. To be able to tell if the pattern has been reversed is really quite simple. Take a look at your pattern envelope or in this case, the first page you print off. Do they look the same? If the answer is yes, then the pattern has not been reversed. (Before you go looking for this pattern, it is no longer a free pattern. You now have to be a member to download it.)
When you compare this block to the full pattern , you will see that they are indentical. You will have to turn over to trace onto fusible web. When you trace make sure you mark the same numbers on each piece. These numbers shown here are for the placement of each one. Don't forget to also make sure that where you tuck one under the other you give yourself some extra to achieve this.
This is both your tracing pattern and your layout guide.
This next set is new and you can download it here if you so desire: http://www.fatcatpatterns.com/
This is the coloured copy of the pattern for row one. This is what your blocks should look like when you are done.
When you print off the patterns for tracing you can easily check to see if they have been reversed. This designer kindly gives you a layout guide. This is the right side for the design.
I put this on my light table so that you would be able to see it. This is the layout guide for the largest snowman in the row.
Take your tracing sheet and lay it on the guide. Does it match?
Yes, it does. Perfectly! This means that you are going to have to turn over the pattern pieces and trace them from the wrong side of the sheet onto your fusible web. I suggest that when you trace, you trace all the pieces of the same colour together: i.e. all the whites, all the oranges, all the browns. You can write on each pattern piece what colour each one is suppose to be.
Once they are all traced onto the fusible web, I leave a margin around each piece and then press them to my fabric. Then I cut on the line.
In this pattern there are three different snowmen. I put all the pieces for each snowman in a ziploc bag as I cut them out. It keeps everything together for when I'm assembling.
Steam a Seam is my choice for fusible web. I've tried others, but I return to Steam a Seam each time, so now I just don't try any other brand. I buy it by the roll from the Hobby Horse. I like the way this fusible adheres to itself without any heat or steam. It works by just pressing down with my fingers. The other thing I like is that it isn't as inclined to gum up my needle when I put it through the sewing machine. It all comes down to personal preference.