I used to make garden flags and appliqués designs on them. I didn’t fuse them, when I made my design pattern, I would make a slight overlap then cut away what wasn’t going to show. Then I’d place the pieces and stitch the edges to slightly under the overlap so when the next piece was layered the stitching was just under that layer. Then stitched the next layer in place. I’m not explaining it very well and it’s easier than it sounds. It ended up being almost 1 layer instead of several. I did it that way to keep the flag from getting over-heavy.