It takes some getting used to. I did a muslin foundation quilt about 10 years ago but never paper pieced until a couple of years ago. I messed up many a piece because of wrong placement and having to think backwards.
I had some of that fusible-like paper and I loved it. Maybe your iron was too hot, I didn't have a problem with it.
I just started on some yesterday and wasn't thinking when I printed the sheets from EQ7 and did it on normal paper. I have the thin paper for PP but forgot. Printer paper isn't bad, especially the cheap kind. I'm doing a dozen at a time, I need 72 of them.