I have seen a few shops employees using the bigger die cut machine and they don't know how to NOT waste fabric. Most do what the demo shows, which is lay a piece of fabric over the whole die. That's just for a demo and has too much waste. I have much less waste then using a rotary cutter because I mess up a lot of cuts with that. I don't want all the same fabric for all the pieces so I layer different fabrics together. The cutting mat that goes over the die and fabric is like a rotary mat, the die blades cut into that. They get used up eventually but are inexpensive. The dies will last for years. It's all manual, no technical do- dads to go wrong, no battery or electrical power needed. It isn't for everyone but I have no regrets at all about buying it.