DH and I piece mostly from scraps. So we still use scissors. When we moved we threw out a whole bunch of templates made from cardboard.

If anyone thinks this method is way too slow, in the last 30 years we have pieced over 1000 quilts and tops.

What a wonderful thread of conversation! Well, for us older folks, anyway! LOL! Yep.. I do remember the days before the fancy tools! My first quilts were cut out with sissors and I marked around cardboard templates with plain old #2 pencil! The fabrics were left over from making clothes for myself and my kids, and what my sister-in-law had left from sewing for herself and her kids, and what my mom had left over... or wherever else I could get it! It wouldn't have occurred to me to go buy fabric for the express purpose of making a quilt back then. Ahhhhh... now I love my GO! cutter and my longarm and my wonderful cotton fabrics, but I still remember those "good old days". LOL!

I used templates that I traced around, card board or thin plastic, and sharp scissors. I was not able to do the 1/4 inch seams accurate then. It took some time to learn that.

I can remember using templates and sissors and a sharp pencil ... it took quite a bit of time. A lot of quilts did not make it past the cutting stage , or maybe a bit of piecing. I can remember my first rotary cutting experience... LIFE CHANGING!

I am always amazed at the beautiful quilts that were made before the great notions we have now. Sometimes it puts me to shame. I'm so lazy now that if I can't cut it with the rotary cutter, I probably won't do it.
I saved cereal boxes to make templates. I read some articles on the history of quilting. They talked about the cardboard templates that were used and shared with other quilters. Sometimes the templates wore down and became a new pattern.

My grandparent's home never had electricity: oil lamps/candles were used. (Oddly enough, it did have indoor plumbing) I saw the Baltimore Album quilts on display at Lovely Lane Methodist Church and also the exhibit at the Maryland Historical Society both a few years ago now. I can't imagine doing that work without magnifiers/strong lighting. I too still have and use the first rotary cutter I ever purchased and I'd like to know how many miles of fabric has been cut by that little gizmo!!

I recall an early project was cutting 5" squares from blue fabrics...calicoes. Done with scissors. Sewn on a basic Singer machine I got at Joann's, along with a sewing kit that actually had items in the top plastic tray!
That blue squares quilt...was actually tied, and I still have it. :)
I made many doll quilts, wall hangings, quilts, etc. Got a rotary cutter and a white mat around 1985.......

My Aunt Maude who inspired me to quilt used cardboard templates and scissors. It is what I used with my first quilt. That is why I always say rotary cutter mat and ruler when someone post the question what is your favorite quilting tool??

Scissors and templates for me too.

We are all so different. The first thing I wanted to do when I decided to want to quilt was go choose new fabric. It never occurred to me to want to use scrap fabric or clothing. Not much cotton fabric to choose from then though. I bought poly/cotton blend in floral and solids to make a string quilt as you go quilt with poly batting. That first quilt is decades old and on my youngest DD's bed. It's been washed to death and no tears or fraying.