NOTE:  Pictured here is the Mustad Signature dry fly hook (R30).  I can't say enough about these hooks.  They are the best I've seen... chemically sharpened, micro barbs, fine craftsmanship, easy to follow coding, and high carbon steel tempered just right (not brittle like other high-carbon hooks).  I highly recommend them.

Enter Whiting American capes.  These are specifically raised for streamer/bass applications, so there are wider, larger feathers.  They are perfect for featherwing streamers and are very economical.  The bonus... they have great spade hackles on the sides of the capes with stiff, long barbs.  The barb count is not real high, though, but you can still get a good-size clump using the following technique.

To get a thicker tail, even up the fibers on the feather and clip them from the stem.  Carefully bundle them together so the tips stay even.  Lash them loosely to the hook with a couple light turns of the tying thread.  This is just a place to hold the bundle together so you can add more fibers to it.  Clip another section of barbs and hold them against the bundle lashed to the hook so the tips align.  Grasp both bundles with your left hand and undo the thread to free the first bundle.  Gather both bundles into one.  This is a particularly useful technique if you have skinny fingers like I do and can't keep a hold of very many fibers at one time.

Notice the length of the barbs in the photos.  The hook shown is a #12.  These fibers could easily be used up to about a size 8 dry fly.

Continue wrapping the thread over the butt ends, lashing them to the top of the shank, up to about half way between the hook point and eye.  This is how long the body will be.  Clip the excess butt ends.

Let the bobbin hang for a moment so it untwists and the thread lays flat.

To get a fuller wing, I use the same method employed in getting a fuller tail... clip a segment of the dun-dyed mallard flank, align the tips, and lash it to the shank with a couple loose turns of thread to hold it there.  Clip another segment, add it to the first, and continue until you have enough to form two wings of the proper bulk (to your liking).  Once you have enough mallard flank fibers, measure the bundle for length.  Here again, I like my wings to equal the shank plus the hook eye, like the tail.  Trim the bundle one hook eye width longer.

Hold the bundle against the shank at an angle and take a couple tight turns to move the butt ends on top of the shank.  Two more tight turns secures it in place. Leave a little of the excess exposed as shown in the photo.  Add a drop of cement to the thread wraps to help keep the wings from spinning around the hook in the next step.

8)  Lift the wing fibers up and take a couple turns behind them.  Do not "build a thread dam" to prop them up... this is not necessary and only adds unwanted bulk.  Slide your thumbnail behind and underneath the wing fibers and push them forward.  They will spread a bit and you can now easily determine equal amounts of fibers for each wing.  With your thumbnail in place, pull some of the fibers to the far side, others to the near side, to distribute them into two wings.  Grasp one of the wing bundles with your right hand, then use your left hand to drape the thread over the shank, between the two wings.  Take two turns of the thread diagonally between the wings.  Then take two more turns of thread diagonally the other way, so the wraps cross-cross.  This gathers the fibers into two wings.

NOTE:  This step was beyond my skills to photograph clearly.  If you need any clarification don't hesitate to e-mail me.

Notice how starting with the wing tips pointing to the rear, then lifting them up into place, you get longer fibers at the front of the wing, and shorter fibers to the rear (a result of folding the bundle up).  This produces a proper profile.  Using "conventional" methods of starting with the tips forward of the hook eye then lifting them up produces wings that are shaped "backwards."  Perhaps the fish don't care, but you get a nicer-looking fly.