The Silhouette cameo will cut stencils. Almost any plastic, even sheet protectors will work. The Bother Scan n Cut and the Cricut should, too.

There's another post on here where someone said she doesn't cut fabric with her cutter but cuts the outlines of applique with it on freezer paper, then irons the freezer paper to the fabric.

If you want to cut shapes you can use the plastic under a pack of bacon or the plastic lids from butter and things like that, coffee cans. I have used the clear plastic sheets for an overhead projector. Traced with a Sharpie and cut out leaving a little of the black lines on each side where I cut out the design. I have to leave the little tabs so the stencil doesn't fall apart though. I used an Xacto knife for that. Sometimes I didn't have it wide enough for my marking pen to get inside.

I do both. I like making up my own stuff so I enjoy making my own stencils for things.

I don't usually make quilting stencils though; most of my stencils are for painting. I have a lot of fun with freezer paper stencils and fabric paints. :)

I cut my own. I purchase a sheet of vellum (about $3.00) to make stencils from. I trace the pattern, then cut it out using small scissors. I get A LOT of stencils from one sheet - enough that I've made about 5 quilts all with different patterns. The nice thing about making your own is you can resize them before cutting out a stencil.

My husband has made mine. He is sew handy. I call him my handiest tool in quilting.

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.

I do both .. I use velum for my stencils then I buy some if I cannot make it (in other words too complicated for my widdle brain .. LOL).

I use different methods: templates (bought), pantos, and free hand, depending on the quilt. I had tried a few of the plastic stencils, but hated having to connect the lines.

However, I was just reintroduced to a line of stencils that I now like for personal use. The company is: FullLineStencil.com. They make a stencil that doesn't have the problem of gaps, since they are done with a mesh background and they are reasonably priced from $3.99 to $11.99, depending on size. I had seen them several years ago, but was leery of trying them, since they were new and I was fairly new to quilting. I just recently took a LA class at Road 2 CA and the teacher(Gina Perkes) was using them. They are very easy to use and I just saw some on sale recently (can't remember the store); I think it was while doing the FabShopHop.

I found out where I saw them. It was Connecting Threads.

I have made my own stencils using the Avery Style Clear Plastic Insertable Divider for my plastic. This is strong clear plastic so easy to work with for any type of template.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...wL._AA160_.jpg

I got a Olfa Stencil Cutter from JoAnn's. It has 3 double blades in it (1 mm, 1.5 mm, 2 mm), and cuts a line in the plastic those widths. It works surprisingly well. You need to start and stop it when drawing on the line you have drawn on the plastic. It is some work, but you get just the design and size you need. I will enlarge, or shrink the pattern on my printer, then can trace over it onto the plastic. Then easily mark my quilt.

Here is a link to what my blade looks like: http://www.quiltenhobby.nl/Olfa-Sc-1-Stencil-cutter/en