Thrifty or insane?

ateallthepies

Native
Aug 11, 2011
1,558
0
hertfordshire
Day 2 of the great feather plucking challenge and things are going well. I now have a gallon and a half of downy plumage stripped from the nasty quills of a 60% feather/40% down pillow.

I reckon at this rate I will have enough down to fill my quilt before winter is out?:D

A Down quilt for less than a tenner is whats spurring me on but I'm already loosing my sanity:lmao:



Steve.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,809
S. Lanarkshire
The feathers are night and day in quality :)
If you have the time and effort, the end results are brilliant, but then I seperate the kemp from angora wool by hand too.

Quality, quality, quality stuff :D

The other thing is that you can wash those feathers and get rid of any funky deid chicken smell that seems to cling like a sweaty, greasy miasma to most modern feathery stuffings :yuck:
I love natural fibres, but I use polyester quilts and cushions because the stench of the feather stuffings is vile.
My Grandmother had a feather bed, and we had feather quilts and pillows when I was a child and they never smelled like that. Even truly old eiderdowns didn't smell like the modern ones do.

Mad ? hmmmm, maybe a bit eccentric :D

atb,
Toddy
 

ozzy1977

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
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Henley
We bought a new down duvet a couple of years ago that didn't smell at all, but it was quite an expensive one, just shows that you get what you pay for.
 

Toddy

Mod
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Jan 21, 2005
39,133
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S. Lanarkshire
£230 of one went into the bin not long ago.

Yet a friend claimed she didn't even notice the smell in her bedroom, until a child niece commented and refused to be put down for a nap because of it. I reckon the friend was too wrapped up in how much she'd spent to admit that it stank.

I have two new cushions up my loft, hand made for me by a cousin, but stuffed with feather pads, and she didn't buy cheap, it's agin her nature :rolleyes:, but until I can get rid of the smell there's no way I'm having them elsewhere in the house.
If they don't lose the smell by Summer, new cushions or not, they're getting triple washed and hung outdoors for a week to dry in sunshine.....if we get any that is :) If the smell doesn't go, they're out and I'll just quietly reline them with kapok or the like.

My little brother and I both wore feather stuffed ski type suits as toddlers in the bitter cold Winters of the 60's, and those eiderdown suits were warm and smelled of nothing but fresh air. I wouldn't even give feather stuffed slippers to a child now.

Honestly ozzy1977, I don't know what is done or is not done to feather stuffings nowadays but it's sommat not good. I wonder if it's something anti infestation ?
Feather things were washed in the Summer and dried in the sunshine when I was a child, that was all the treatment they got. Clothes were put bye inside old pillowslips until needed again in Winter, but cushions and pillows and beds were just put back to use.
We had a heck of a lot less allergies then too.

atb,
M
 

Squidders

Full Member
Aug 3, 2004
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Harrow, Middlesex
To see if it's possible is interesting but weighing the time spent doing it, you would be better off doing something else for cash and buying a down quilt with the proceeds.
 

ateallthepies

Native
Aug 11, 2011
1,558
0
hertfordshire
I know what you mean Squids but it is just a bit of after work plucking while watching TV.

2 full gallon bags now. I reckon that's one baffle sorted-19 to go:)
 

mousey

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jun 15, 2010
2,210
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NE Scotland
Holy carp batman, thats a bit mad.

But atleast your doing something with your spare time other than completely blanking out in front of the telly.

Who want's to work a 2nd job to pay for thing they want? the satisfaction I get from making [and learning how to make] things is far greater than the satisfaction I get from working to earn money to pay for the things I want [and I actually enjoy my job] - Ok most of the stuff I make is a bit pants, but I can always repair it or do another one - but better!

I don't have a telly, but I do have a computer and have got into the habit of watching a dvd at night - something I really want to get back out of as there is quite a lot you can do in 2 hours.

Hmmm bit of a ramble there....
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,809
S. Lanarkshire
Holy carp batman, thats a bit mad.

But atleast your doing something with your spare time other than completely blanking out in front of the telly.

Who want's to work a 2nd job to pay for thing they want? the satisfaction I get from making [and learning how to make] things is far greater than the satisfaction I get from working to earn money to pay for the things I want [and I actually enjoy my job] - Ok most of the stuff I make is a bit pants, but I can always repair it or do another one - but better!


+1 :D :approve:

M
 

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