I've been mostly using a fully unzipped sleeping bag as a quilt for some years now. It's OK, but the hood gets in my face, so inspired by @Whitestone, I've just received a Cumulus L430 rectangular quilt from Backcountry.Scot, which should also allow use as a hammock underquilt.
Fibre pile was introduced by Helly Hansen in 1961, and was in pretty wide use well before Patagonia introduced fleece as a solution to the pilling that fibre pile was prone to.