When I learned to quilt, I was always taught to take a plastic template and square all my blocks before putting them together. We were not taught to be a specific as we should have been when sewing, but we did square them up. The templates are expensive at the shops, but we were more fortunate. Our "teacher" had a hubby who made us all templates out of plastic that were very precise in size, from very small to very large. They do not have the scale on them, but they are great for squaring!