I just never got used to my thread cutter as I had heard many people who have had a problem with them, so anyway, I don't miss it. I do chain piece a lot and I like leaving a bit of the thread chain at the end of the stitching. I think it helps seams to not come undone with all the handling multi piece quilts have done to them. I do use a shorter stitch length too. I even used an early machine for embroidery that didn't have a thread cutter and that worked out just fine too. Just got used to snipping the threads.