Quill Embroidery: A Case Study in the Mechanics of Biological Materials

In quill embroidery, leather goods are beautified with patterns stitched with stripes of the cortex of peacock feathers. Our new structural, geometric and mechanical data for the tail cover feathers of the peacock allow an understanding of the mechanisms of embroidery. This study serves as an example of how biological materials can be analyzed like engineering materials, giving insight into the optimization processes during evolution.