Must confess that I never learned to cut the thread at the spool and pull it through the needle in home ec, however, I, too, have a Babylock and very shortly after I had it it was back in the shop for repairs due to the fact that I had pulled the thread out by the spool and did something to the tension spring... still, occasionally I will forget when I'm in a hurry and pull out by the spool but when I do I'm always very thankful I "was lucky that time" and didn't screw it up again...can be costly.