diff -ur stgit-0.16.orig/stgit/commands/common.py stgit-0.16/stgit/commands/common.py
--- stgit-0.16.orig/stgit/commands/common.py	2012-01-09 22:12:42.000000000 +0100
+++ stgit-0.16/stgit/commands/common.py	2012-12-04 19:04:52.193722114 +0100
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 from stgit.utils import *
 from stgit.out import *
 from stgit.run import *
-from stgit import stack, git, basedir
+from stgit import stack, git, basedir, templates
 from stgit.config import config, file_extensions
 from stgit.lib import stack as libstack
 from stgit.lib import git as libgit
@@ -499,6 +499,9 @@
     # Let user edit the commit message manually, unless
     # --save-template or --message was specified.
     if not getattr(options, 'save_template', None) and options.message is None:
+        tmpl = templates.get_template('patchdescr.tmpl')
+        if tmpl:
+            cd = cd.set_message(cd.message + tmpl)
         cd = cd.set_message(edit_string(cd.message, '.stgit-new.txt'))
 
     return cd