I use all types of weights from the flat circles that look like giant washers, small round chunky weights that look like cupboard door knobs to the wiggle weights that look like snakes. The rotary cutting method is so much faster and far more accurate than pinning and cutting with scissors, its ridiculous! If you haven't tried it you really must.

I do keep my quality scissors at hand for cutting inside corners. I admit when I am in a hurry I try to do it with the rotary cutter but it's a hit or miss proposition at best.

 For fast and accurate fusible interfacing; determine the amount of fabric you will need to cut out all interfaced pieces. Fuse interfacing to the wrong side of that piece of fabric, let cool, then cut out the pieces such as cuffs, collar stands etc. Do not block fuse the collar if it has a fine tip like the one in the photo. Cut the interfacing from the collar pattern but before adhering to the collar cut the collar points of the interfacing off. This is so there won't be so much bulk in the collar point that it won't lay flat and topstitch well.

Now lets talk notches, you know those funny little triangle matching points on home sewing patterns. Cut them Off! I find them an unnecessary waste of time to cut. In the garment industry, patterns have never had triangle.They use a short slit approximately half the distance of the seam allowance i.e. 1/4" slit on a 5/8" seam allowance. Just cut off the triangle and make the slit smack in the middle of the triangle location. 

When making a plaid or strips pattern shirt, matching the pattern whenever possible gives the most desirable and custom-made look. Make it easy on yourself by never cutting a plaid or stripe pattern piece on the fold. It only takes a few minutes to adapt any pattern piece to be cut on the flat and it will keep you from going crazy trying to be certain it will all match when sewn together. This is particularly crucial on the collar and collar stands.