Hello Mike and all,
Perhaps everyone knows this reference, but I'll mention it just in case. This is not a 'how to' resource, but it does show some actual Federal period designs that you may not come across elsewhere. The book is the Winterthur publication "American Furniture--The Federal Period".
I found the book a little disappointing overall, but it has one redeeming feature that (for me) is worth the price. There are two large color pages of Stringing and Banding patterns, and 4 large color pages of Pictorial Inlays, paterae and leg ornamentation such as bellflower patterns.
Each of the patterns shown on these 6 pages of plates is referenced to a specific piece of furniture. The color printing is good enough, so that if you know the 'how to', these plates show you authentic patterns. For both the Stringing and Banding, and Pictorial Inlays, the designs are grouped into 4 regional categories: Coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island; Connecticut and Connecticut Valley; New York and New Jersey; and Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Caveats: For each design, the reference piece of furniture is in the Winterthur book; there is some text identifying and describing each piece of furniture, but the photos of the pieces of furniture are usually B/W, and too small to see what the design actually looks like on the piece. But the color plates showing closeups of the designs are--in most cases, but not all--good enough to work from. I would say that all of the stringing and banding patterns are good enough to work from; but some of the paterae are so complex that the color photo doesn't quite get it.
I count about 85 stringing and banding patterns overall, and 43 pictorial inlays.
One other item....The recent April 2010 'Woodworking' magazine (produced by Chris Schwarz at Popular Woodworking) references a video done by Rob Millard, where he shows you how to make a cuff-banding which some may find stunning (I did). The video is found at http://tinyurl.com/ylx957b.
Wiley Horne