I recently bought some solid color flannel (usually I buy prints) for Scotch to have for pajama pants, and after the prewash it was just covered in little balls of lint. And it made a lot, because it also covered everything else that was in that load of laundry with little red and blue specks too. I’m used to flannel pilling, but usually it takes it more than a couple of washes (and not to this degree!), and this is just not acceptable to me. I’ve previously defended JoAnn’s, but if this is how they’re gonna be now that Hancock’s is gone, I can’t.
Has anyone else had this experience? Did I just buy the wrong “brand”?
Splinters & Stitches 
I find the quality as Jo-Ann varies widely. I have bought some really great fabric there and some garbage that seemed good at the time. I also had a bad bad experience with their flannel several years ago – basically got threadbare and badly faded after a few washings. The better stuff tends to be the rayons, polys and other synthetics. Cottons tend to not hold up as well.
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I can’t speak for Joann’s but I know the quality of flannelette we get at Fabricland varies wildly, and one “type” in particular is very obviously discount fabric, often flawed so badly it heads straight to the bargain centre. (Incidentally, when it arrives often the first couple of metres on the bolt are fine, and then you hit a join, and then after that it’s a miss-print, or the colours are wrong, or something. We have been told that the only quality control is essentially us—if we notice and report problems on arrival, they can file some kind of a grievance with suppliers, but often it’s not obvious right away (or until after the fabric is washed). As I said I don’t know JoAnn’s, but if the purchase was recent and you have the receipt you could take it back and complain—they might be willing to replace it with some other fabric. And in the absence of a real competitor, customer complaints might be the only thing that keeps them “honest”. (And Fabricland hasn’t had a real major competitor in Canada for 20 years, and it definitely shows. 😦 )
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I hadn’t thought to try taking it back, I’ve always thought as soon as you washed it, it was yours. At least it wasn’t off grain (though I definitely got the first cuts off of it, so I suppose it could be like the stuff you mentioned).
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I don’t know if they would but it could be worth asking (or at least making sure they know about the poor quality.)—I know my store has replaced stuff in similar circumstances (at least once after it had been made into a quilt!) at least when the flaw was pretty bad. It might depend on the manager, too, though. 😦
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