Images from the Manesse Codex are among the most well known of the period. Luckily, these illuminations show several helms. These images come from around 1340.
The website states: "Susan Muller-Wiering (Center for Textile Research,University of Copenhagen) submitted a report on a piece of thread recovered from a bronze helmet crest (02-0013) from A1400 in 2002. It is about 3 mm in diameter, with a z-spin direction, made of vegetal material. The fibers are very fine, clinging together in bundles. There are some so-called dislocations along the fibers, suggesting bast fiber, probably linen. It is seemingly a sewing thread, used to fasten the plume to the helmet crest."
Very exciting.