My babylock Serenade has a thread cutter, and it only cuts the threads, leaving about a quarter inch of thread tails. When you begin sewing again you can't hold those short threads, so it's good to use a "spider" scrap to start sewing on, as it will usually make a tiny thread nest with those tails. There is a knot feature on the machine where it takes a few stitches in the same place, but sometimes when I've used that and tested it by pulling on it, it pulls right out, so I never use that feature. The thread cutter has it's place, but I don't use it when chain piecing, of course. Also, my machine is fussy about which threads work best with the thread cutter. For instance, Gutterman works great (as do many other brands), but if I use it with Star brand thread (and a few others), the cut thread will whip out of the needle, and sometimes disappear inside the machine, and I have to fish it out and rethread. Not a time saver! I know other machines are fussy about threads when using the thread cutter. All in all, it's not as great a feature as I thought it would be, but I'm still happy to have and use it sometimes.