It looks like what they bought was the customer database, not the actual physical inventory. They are going to actively market to former Hancocks customers by offering items that might have been previously bought at Hancocks. Michaels will have to so a whole lot of revamping to fill that market. I doubt that they will offer much. Basically, they bought the customer information.

As far as I know, all of the Hancocks are gone, completely. If there is one near you that is still liquidating, it will be soon gone, for good.

If Michaels does sell any fabric, it is likely to be just that cheap quilting cotton, not real garment fabric or nice fabric. They may stick a small selection in their stores, but I cannot imagine having a cutting counter in the Michaels store. Most likely they will increase the display with basic sewing notions and prepackaged fat quarters. Then, you will get an advertisment that touts them as "your one stop quilting headquarters".

Not just customer database but all intellectual property, i.e. Logos. Brands. It is speculated Michaels will expand the online fabric selling arm. You are right that Hancocks is gone, as we knew it. A store near me is still open But a holy mess with bolts of fleece everywhere

Oh, boy! Don't get me started on that fleece question!

I don't understand it either, and I bet that even those who buy it don't really like it. It seems to have been effectively promoted as a fabric for those who do not really sew, i.e. "no sew fleece blankets", or those with bare sewing skills.

It was cleverly marketed in the craft aisle. Cheap and quick gifts!!

I never see anyone actually wearing it and who needs a bunch of cheap "blankets"?

That is just about the most awful and the ugliest stuff that ever was wound around a bolt, in my opinion. It has an awful hand to it.

Hancocks had tons of that stuff and JOanns has tons of it! Ugh!!!

I noticed that, even as my local Hancocks closed, the last remaining wall of fabric was that awful fleece. Either they had an over abundance of it, or people just really did not want it. I don't know which.

I tried once to make a little vest out of it. It was so awful that I just put it in the trash. I found it non accommodating to real garment construction.

I'm at Joanns weekly and I never really see anyone buying it although there is tons of it. I did buy something similar last spring. It was not regular fleece, it was really substantial and pricey. I made my granddaughter a stuffed piglet out of it. I could never remember what the name of the brand was unfortunately.

Ha ha with all of ya. I do see people buying the fleece stuff. I've bought a little bit to make beds for my dogs, that's it. Besides, you can go to Home Goods and get the prettiest throws for $15-20 and zero work!

I live in the desert southwest, so maybe that's why I don't see too much of it being purchased. During the holidays would be the only time I would see it occasionally. There's just soooo much of it it's ridiculous! I do think it would make a nice dog bed though :)

Actually, the nature of the fabric structure is that all small hairs stick to it. Unless your dog is one that does not shed, it is likely to harbor a thick layer of dog hair. Still, I am certain that the dog will find it to be very comfortable.

I really have never seen anyone wearing this fleece and I do live where it gets cold.

It makes really chintzy and cheap "blankets".

The colors are all acidic and the motifs that are printed on it have to be very big because it is not possible to get detailed prints on that highly napped fabric. So,prints of fleece are not usually suitable for garments with the really big scale of the print.

To be fair there are a couple of ready made vest that we have around the house that are made of some type of fleece similar to that on the bolt, yet they seem to be of better quality. I think that, in order to achieve a more complicated sewn garment with the likes of fleece, that you need industrial machines and industrial techniques.
Traditional sewing techniques do not apply well to this fleece. That is why they are touted as being great for "no sew" gift giving.

I will wager to bet that many of those gifts are being stored in closets along with the rest of the clutter, rather than used.

Do you get a sense of the fact that I do not like it, at all?

In my area, I see the young crafty types buying fleece to makes blankets and throws for rebembered at Christmas time Aunt Gladys. Doesn't matter that it's not really warm or that she already has blankets from prev. Christmases, what matters is that it is a "done" In the gift giving List. The fleece is so easy to work with for blankets, some even being no-sew. That's why we're drowning in the stuff, there's a demand.

Durango, your piggy is really cute!

Yes it is!

Yes, that really is one cute little piggy!

I just see so much of this gifting of useless items (excluding that cute piggy) as decadent and adding to the massive clutter that so many Americans live in. Give Aunt Gladys a gift card for something like a grocery or the movies , or something.

Personally , I don't see that there is any skill in sewing a "no sew" blanket and I will wager to bet that neither does Aunt Gladys.

Your right, bossy, we are drowing in that stuff. Imagine how many landfills it is going to take to absorb all of that. And that is exactly where it is all going eventually. It will blanket the earth with "no sew blankets" that were mostly unwanted in the first place. UGH!

awww thanks so much for the thanks. My granddaughter had actually seen the pattern for that piggy among a pile of patterns in my sewing room. She remarked that she would love a piggy. A short time later she was home sick with strep throat so I figured a little pink buddy wouldn't hurt. So I grabbed the pink fabric on my lunch and ran it up when I got home. She loved it ! :)

i had a potential customer ask if I'd make a fleece slipcover for her couch, to keep the dog hair off it. I told her of it's magical fur collecting properties and she reconsidered.

all of you must live in warm places. here in San Francisco in August it is now 57 degrees F, that's outside in my backyard, so I make fleece pullovers, I use anti pill fleece from Joannes, this is our summer, so I dress in layers because if you go 10 miles away it is 80 degrees. the fleece pullovers are easy to make and wash up beautifully after walking the dog or gardening. we have a saying you can tell who the summer visitors are in San Francisco because they have shorts, t shirts and goosebumps from the cold.

No offense to anyone, but I really detest fleece. It makes me feel static-y when I wear it, but I also think it looks awful.

I've met people who buy tons of it to teach others to make no-sew blankets to donate to the less fortunate. But these people who make them are also in poor communities and don't want to or can't spend money on better fabrics.

My main complaint though is that it is an environmental pollutant to our oceans so I hope that its lacking aesthetics will drive it out of existence eventually.

http://www.outsideonline.com/2091876/patagonias-new-study-finds-fleece-jackets-are-giant-pollutant

sillyk, it seems that very few are aware or care about the environmental impact of the things that we create. If there is no real need for the item, it is useless. So many sewers and makers are out there cobbling together things that have no real use.

I cannot remember ever seeing anyone wear anything made out of that fleece. There is a better polar fleece that is seen in ready to wear outerwear, but, I have never seen anyone wear anything of that awful stuff from the fabric store.

My one real effort to sew a childs robe with it was awful, and I have sewn for over 50 years. It just does not take well to traditional sewing construction, at all.

It does lend itself well to toys and the like, but not garments.

Now, the local Joanns is filled with the stuff. There is an entire aisle filled with this stuff printed with licensed movie characters. Ugh!!!! Double plus ugly!!!!

While we are on the subject, let me bring up the enormous amount of waste that we create when we sew. As much as I try and as much as I carefully consider it, the fact is that the waste from my sewing room is the most offensive and the most in quantity. I try to compost anything that I know is organic. But, so much is not.

Sewing generates a lot of waste.

gertiedaub - I agree! I don't sew too much because I only keep a few outfits and try to keep it to a minimum. I buy mostly only 100% cotton where I can help it, and organic too. Not associated with the business, but loving its environmental efforts, this online store is a great source for organic fabrics, yarn, and threads, in case anyone is interested in trying to be more environmental: http://organiccottonplus.com/

I only want a limited wardrobe, too. Most of us have way tooooo much!!

I don't seek out organic cotton. Not that I have an opposition to it, I understand that the growing and processing of cotton has a hugh environmental impact. But, I really don't see how cotton could be anywhere near as environmentally damaging as are those synthetic fibers that dominate now.

At least the natural fibers will decompose and are of a second use as rags or insulation. These synthetic fibers that we are throwing away have no after use and will sit in the landfills, forever. Scary, very very scary.