I have a few projects on the go which are quite difficult to get a perfect initial lay of carbon fibre. Is it possible to do the initial layer of decorative carbon fibre, followed by a layer of unidirectional carbon fibre - let it cure, remove from the mold to check for an acceptable decorative pattern, then reinstall into the mold for further layers of reinforcement? The initial few layers will be vacuum bagged prior to removal for inspection, as well as the remaining reinforcement layers.

The finished product needs an amount of structural strength which will be assisted by the addition of various carbon fibre flat bar, box sections etc.

Sorry if this is a real beginners question and thanks in advance for any help.

Totally fine. Put peel ply on the back and you don't even have to do any prep work to it before laminating further layers, just pull it out,  check it, put it back in the mould and add more layers. 

Sweet - thanks very much for the help.

Yes ... I add "moulded in" fasteners and additional reinforcement that way ...

Also if I want to add a "corrugated" inside layer to improve stiffness, without any risk of print through, I have done the first few layers as infusion, then cured and added more layers by vacuum bagging.

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As mentioned above peel ply provides an excellent bonding surface for the subsequent layers if your using Epoxy resin. If your using Polyester then you will have to do more work. Poly doesn't like sticking to poly, you will have to key the surface with 80's grit paper and remove any surface wax with Acetone first.

Another option is to use peelply, then perf release film, then breather so you can control the amount of resin being removed with the amount of perforations. Also allow an amount of resin in your volume calc for the peelply layer