All the patterns I’ve done have included a tracing diagram and the pieces have been complete. I use heat n bond lite to trace the piece, then adhere that to the wrong side of the wool, then cut out the shape. All shapes I’ve done have been whole, the wool layers nicely. Here is a tutorial that might be helpful.
https://youtu.be/BXwJi5TxYPA. The patterns for these mug mats are free too so might be good for practice. They go into good detail about the process and teach new stitches each month.