Ben,
Fonda went into detail on the construction of CW period flags at several of the Baltimore symposiums and repeated her talk at the PA flag symposium. I had the chance to talk to her, Howard & Whitney about the count of stitching and the thread used.
You guessed it, the information I learned was way deferent then what you say. They and others guarded the information because it was one of their way of detecting fake flags.
Happy Trails!
Tom Martin
www.Piedmontflag.com
www.Confederate-flags.org