I bought a German feather "bed" at a garage sale once and it was a very heavy, thick fabric. I wanted it to make pillows out of the feathers. So, bought the feather "ticks" through the Sears, or Montgomery Wards catalog and proceeded to make about 6 feather pillows out of it - OMG - what a job that was - probably "lost" half of the feathers (in the yard) - NO good way to do it - but be sure to do it outdoors and on a very calm (not windy day). My mother-in-law had told me how they did it when she was a girl and plucked their own chickens, or geese. She said to sew one end of the pillowcase to one end of the comforter and pull the feathers out inside out or something like that. Very complicated but had to be done in order not to lose so many feathers.