Hey ya’ll, the term “cheater fabric” was what we always called the fabric that is printed to look like patchwork, some of the shops used to sell it for folks who wanted to learn/practice their quilting. I’ve seen a number of them that were quite beautiful by the time the quilter was done with them. It was a term/name for a specific type of print and not a reference to the character of person who bought it.
I think maybe your friend was not meaning to be pejorative, just confusing what I think of as a specific term for a specifit kind of print (one thta looks like pieced patchworkk rather than pictorial) with a panel.
Rob