Gingerbread Exchange Community

Hi Sarah, and welcome to the exciting world of gingerbread!

I'm not sure what you mean by "tape my pattern first".

If you are referring to simply taping pieces together? Since we are limited to an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper for printing, and some houses require larger pieces than can be created on a sheet of paper....some pattern pieces require that they be taped together first in order to create the final right-sized pattern piece.  For example, some patterns require that four pieces be taped together in order to create the final wall pattern piece that is then cut from gingerbread dough.

Or... some people prefer to cut all of their pieces out of foam board first (like they would cut from gingerbread, after "taping pieces together as above"), and then they build their house out of foam board in order to get a sense of how the house goes together... before they actually bake the gingerbread.

Hope this helps - if not, please feel free to ask more questions!

Loreta