3/8" & 1/2" Template Marking Device

 Making a Template Follower

I do quite a bit of Sewing: Biminis, Dodgers, Screen covers, Tank Covers, lots of Cushions and a plenty more. One consistent issue is marking the covering material to be 1/2" greater than the template for the Foam on a cushion.  

If I place the foam or a cardboard cutout, as a template on the material and run a sharpie or chalk pen around the foam ( or cardboard cutout ) then the Fabric is the same shape as the template, but I need to add a 1/2" seam allowance. If the edges of the template are straight lines, then it's easy to just use a ruler. If the template has a curve, then I can use a bendy rule but it's awkward.

I cam up with the idea of making a Template Follower

The concept is simple. Insert a Sharpie pen inside of a tube, then hold the tube vertically against the template (Foam or cardboard cutout) laying on the material to mark up. Then move the Template Follower around the edge of the template, the tip of the Sharpie marks the material.

The Follower is easily made: Just cut a piece of 1/2" Pex piping about 1" long ( it actually needs to be long enough to allow the Sharpie to be inserted into one end such that the tip of the Sharpie is protruding from the other end of the Pex by at least 1/8" of an inch. Then that piece of Pex is pushed inside of a piece of 1/" PVC Piping about 4" long such that the PEX protrudes about 1/8" from the PVC Piping.

That makes a 3/8" Template Follower. A 1/2" PVC pipe connector will slip (tightly) over the 1/2" piping, so I simply cut a 1/2" PVC Piping Connector in half across it's diameter and with that slipped over the 1/2" PVC piping, it converts to a 1/2" Template Follower.