I think it makes a difference whether you are making a stencil of a shape that you will use for applique or whether you are making a quilting pattern with will comprise of lines, swirls, shapes and be repeated. If I want a particular shape then I make my own. I recently made a baby quilt with ducks appliqued on it. I made my own stencil for that and cut the plastic out with scissors. If I want a quilting pattern then I will buy a stencil because cutting all those tiny lines leaving just enough space for my marker to fit through to the quilt and leaving little bits of plastic along the way to hold things together is way too tedious. I just bought a quilting stencil that was 8.5x11 for $4 which I thought was reasonable.