SOLIDWORKS Design & Help

Recently I posted an emblem of a knight. It contains a lot of surfacing features, and I am curious if the "feathers" can be created in an easier manner.

I mostly achieved the overall shapes I was after, but each feature was rather time consuming. Layout sketches, boundary surfaces, trims, patches, knitting... Maybe someone will have a better method? Think of it as a challenge.

The model has been uploaded to the library: https://grabcad.com/library/knight-plaque-emblem-1

If you'd like to see how I created the feather, download the separate, smaller model which shows only the feather. The full model does not have a full feature tree.

Below is an image of the final model. The "feathers" or plumes around the head are what I'd like a better way to create.

The image below shows the layout sketches. Regular splines, style splines, 2D sketches, and 3D sketches are all used.

The image below shows how the feather is laid out with the reference image in the background. For bonus points, maybe you can demonstrate some good ways of adding the "feather" details to the surface. In the full file I spent some time detailing some of these features, but it was very time consuming (and boring).The image below shows the curvature of the feather. It is not an exact match to the shape shown in the reference image, but maybe you'll have a good way to resolve that as well?

I'm happy with the shape as it is, but getting a closer match would be nice.