I love using cheater's cloth. They like all other fabrics come in different levels of quality. I have made two Baltimore Alblum quilts from cheater's panels that only close examination can reveal that they were not pieced or appliqued. It is a great way to have a project to handquilt. The lack of all of those seams and layers makes the handquilting go so easily. They are a real joy to work with for me.
The original quilts were for the most part whole cloth. What we think of now as quilts were made by frugal woman to use up their garmet making scraps. You see quilted items in European galleries that were made for warmth under armor etc. Oriental garmets also used quilting to add warmth or body to their garmets etc.