I answered this question last week, but I don’t see my response so maybe it didn’t go through. 🙁 I haven’t sewn with ostrich feathers in the way you’re planning on using it so I’m not sure how much help I can be. I did find this site http://lynnmcmasters.com/Turbanlast.html they’re using the feathers to decorate a turban so it’s not exactly the same but they do talk about taking the feathers off the shaft so it might provide some guidance. They said you can just pull the vanes off the shaft, without cutting, and they come off in strings of 4-10 vanes. If it’s a string, I imagine that makes it a little easier to hand sew it on to the base of your capelet. sorry, I couldn’t be more helpful than that.