It has been interesting reading through the replies. I have heard from my mother about the use of newspaper in quilts, when times were bad. It is eye-opening to learn how people made it through when problems come.
As to the feathers - I also am allergic, not only to them, but to wool. So when my cousin gave me a comforter she had made filled with wool from her prize sheep, I could not use it. (But how could I tell her that?)