piping/cuff/collar details on jacket and frock coats

[amymckinney]

Hi Jim,
On the black trim, I got that from my own unit's regulation manual.  It said the following:

Typically, a cavalry trooper in the western theater (Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas) of the Trans-Mississippi Department would have black trim on the collar, sometimes on the cuffs. Texas State Militia also used black trim. Yellow trim for Confederate cavalry is mostly an Eastern theater convention, seen primarily in the Army of Northern Virginia. It is not recommended for an accurate impression in the 7th Texas Cavalry. Yellow trim, if any, should be held to a minimum. Yellow trim includes hat cords, trouser stripes, and collar and cuff trim on shell jackets.

The other problem is the yellow trim I was able to find was a wild, bright gold color and kind of looked a little funny against the sober-looking brown jean.  LOL!  But that's the artist in me coming out.

Amy

[Phil Graf]

Though it's good to see a cavalry unit emphasizing restraint on yellow trim, I wouldn't rule it out entirely.  Have you considered using piping instead of solid colored facings?  As Jim said, there was a ton of branch of service trim imported into the Trans-Mississippi Department during the War.  A lot of this is somewhat recent research, and perhaps the unit's guidelines were written before it became well known.

[amymckinney]

You may be right -- those guidelines were written about 6 years ago.

-Amy