Most of the time I start with a pattern and make changes--why reinvent the armhole if I already have one that works--but for simple items I mark and cut. For example, I made Bible costumes for an entire choir simply by cutting piles of rectangles for bodies and sleeves. That is how the Bible people would have done it, after all, unless they wove the rectangles to proper size to begin with.
Most of the time I start with a pattern and make changes--why reinvent the armhole if I already have one that works--but for simple items I mark and cut. For example, I made Bible costumes for an entire choir simply by cutting piles of rectangles for bodies and sleeves. That is how the Bible people would have done it, after all, unless they wove the rectangles to proper size to begin with.