Most quilt shops sell template plastic. Patterns that require templates for piecing will say whether or not the seam allowance is included. Make copies of the templates, cut them out including seam allowance, glue them to the template plastic and cut them out with scissors (other than your good ones...LOL), lay them out on your fabric, lay your ruler on top lining up the edges and cut them out using your rotary cutter. The upside of doing it this way is you save $$$ by not having to buy expensive plexiglass and the template plastic takes up less room to store, the downside is you have an extra step by using your ruler on top of the templates. I don't have a lot of extra time to do this, but I know I have more time than I do $$$, so this is the method I use. I'm not saying this is the only way to do it, it's just what works for me. By all means, use the technique that works for you. I took a paper piecing class and this is the technique the teacher taught. I've always shied away from patterns requiring templates because I thought they would be a pain. Doing them this way has allowed me to make quilts using templates, ones that never would have gotten made otherwise. Good luck in whatever method you use! :c)