I too remember a time when quilters used templates and scissors, and made precision cuts to the size needed, and I don't think they would have considered another way, at least the few I knew wouldn't. There was no cutting bigger and trimming down, and not a lot of short cuts. Trimming down meant waste, and they were too frugal to waste, and so they didn't. The woman who got me interested in quilting, cut precisely with her scissors, and pieced and quilted by hand, and that seemed to be the quilting "law" at the time. I am thankful for her tutelage, and her shared templates, because I learned so much from her, and I appreciate that tradition, but am grateful for rotary cutters and shorter versions of quilt block instructions.