ok. I hope I get all this straight and it all makes sense.
If I don't explain something well enough, let me know and I will add to it.
 
Open the template. I changed the properties on mine to be read-only.
That way I wont save any new projects onto the file and lose my templates!
Or make a copy of the template file first and then open it.
 
 
Tada...template!

 

 

 
Ok. First thing I do is make the basic shape of my outfit.
Then I match my seams up using a 3D viewer.
(or load into SL but that costs L$)
 
I do this before anything else or I would have to change every layer
in the template to match the new shape if the seams dont match up.
 
I use a middle shade of gray to do my shapes with:
 

 
 

 

 
Draw your shape
Here I did the front and back on seperate layers, but you don't have to.
 

 
 

 

 
Double click on the layer you want to add a bevel to,
or any other built in PS effect (drop shadows, texture, etc)
Double click out where there arent any words or pictures.
Or IF you have applied an effect it will put a symbol
and you can double click on that.

Can also right click the layer and then chose Layer Style
 

 
 

 

 
You will get this window.
I usually only do a bevel of 1 pixel
unless I am doing like a thick leather belt or something.
 
Do decide where you want your Light Source (bottom right arrow)...I figure in SL its just UP
so I set the angle at 90, and then the altitude at about 20 to 30 seems to look ok.
Not too far straight up, and not too far straight in front of me.
 

 
 

 

 
Result:
 

 
 

 

 
Now I select those gray shapes and go to a new layer
fill with the gray, and apply my texture here.
Then I can control the bevel and the texture seperately.
 

 
 

 

 
There is a texture setting in the Layer Style window
but you can also use a built in texture filter of PS's
(other filters here might do some nice effects too)
I havent done it in a while, but you can make your own textures for this filter.
 

 

 
 

 

 
Result:
 

 
 

 

 
Set this layer for Overlay and you will see both the texture and the beveling.
 
 

 

 
Quick way to do trim:
Select your shapes, make a new layer, FILL with the gray.
(not sure why you cant see the selection lines but DO leave selected.
 

 
Now contract the selection area.
I made mine 10 pixels 'wide' but you can chose something else, of course.
 

 
 

 

 
Clear/delete/erase the resulting selected areas.
 

 
 

 

 
Kind of hard to see here, but there is a 10 pixel
wide area around the whole shirt, front and back.
 

 
 

 

 
Now zoom in and erase where you don't want the trim
For instance, the seams. Or across the bottom. Up to you.
 

 
 

 

 
I left the top and bottom and just erased the sides.
 

 
 

 

 
Double click the Trim layer and in Layer Style do a 1 pixel
bevel and maybe add a drop shadow. This shows a 2 pixel shadow
but for just trim I would change that to just 1 pixel, both distance and size.
 

 
 

 

 
Result:
 

 
 

 

 
Let's add some color!
Select the shapes you want to color,
add a new layer above ALL shapes/texture/etc.
Fill the selection with the color of your choice.
Set the layer to Overlay.
 
To change the color of the shirt either recolor the red
layer or make a new layer (which i do) and select the shapes and color differently
Can hide the layers/colors you are not using at the moment.
But sure makes it easy to change the color of the item
and not have to redo beveling, texture, etc.
 

 
 

 

 
Now...after doing that step I realized that if I wanted my trim to be a different color
I had put the red color layer in the wrong place. (oops!)
in PS you can just left click/drag the layers around, so I moved the trim layer above the red color.
 
Selected my trim shape, new layer above the trim layer, filled the selection with a darker red, set for overlay.
Fixed!    lol
 

 
 

 

 
Now add the black background layer
(or use the same color as your item but black works the best and
you dont have to worry if your item has lots of different colors)
 
Add the layer between the template and your clothing layers.
 

 
 

 

 
ok, I do not know if a targa file can deal with 2 different alpha channels
or know which one I might want to use. But if you want the same object done
2 different ways, say one fully opaque and one transparent in other ways, this works for me.
 
I make 2 new layers in PS under my black background layer.
I name the layers something like Alpha Opaque and Alpha Trans
These will NOT show in your item in SL. These are only for fast swapping of Alpha Channels.
 
I make what would be the same thing as would show in my alpha channels. A black/white/gray picture.
Then I can copy the one I want to use into the Alpha Channel and save my targa image.
Then copy the other one in there and save another targa image.
Fast way to swap between opaque and trans images of the same thing.
 
Do as follows:
New Layers, name them (if wanted), fill both with black.
 

 
 

 

 
I seem to be missing these pics (for now)
But select the shapes you want to be transparent
and then on the layer for Alpha Trans fill those selections with gray.
The darker the gray the more transparent the area will be.
 
Then select the shapes you want to be fully opaque
and on the Alpha Trans layer fill those areas with white.
 
Do the same for the Alpha Opaque layer too,
although you will select ALL shapes and fill in the selection with only white.
 
Here is what my Alpha Trans layer ended up looking like.
Black transparent background, gray semi-trans shirt, with an opaque trim.
The Alpha Opaque layer looks the same but instead of white and gray it is just white.
(ha, just realized, you would have to wear a bra with this!)
 

 
 

 

 
Now, to use these.
When ready to save your clothing as a targa for upload you need the Alpha Channel.
Let's do the transparent shirt first.
Select the Alpha Transparent layer. Select All (ctrl+A),
 

 
 
Copy the selection (ctrl+C).
 

 
 
And in the Layers window click the Channels tab and then
the little button in the upper right corner > New Channel.
If you don't have that little button, try the one at the bottom.
If you don't have that one...then I am not sure what will create a new channel, lol      >.>  
 

 
 

 

 
Paste the image we copied into the new channel.
Reselect the top Channel, the RGB one, before clicking back on the Layers Tab.
It isnt dire, but if you ever forget all of your layers/drawings will be in black and white until you do, lol.
 

 
 

 

 
OK. Let's say you want to add a bit of lace at the top of the shirt.
Make a new layer UNDER all the shirt layers.
Why under? I think it works better, lol.
You will have it sticking out of the top just like in RL
as well as hiding the 'raw' edge of your lace under the shirt,
where any beveling effects wont show along the top edge of the shirt
like it would if you only had the lace meet the shirt edge.
 
I hid most of the layers so i could see the template as well as the shirt shape
Changed the Opacity of the basic shirt shape layers so I could see what I was doing
as well as have an outline to follow. (sorry, it shows the opacity for the Lace Layer, not the shirt).
And drew in some lace. (ok, you have to pretend that its really fancy lace,
took me a week to draw that fancy lace, and its really intricate and gorgeous!)
 
That pale gray arch running along the center of the lace is the beveled edge of my shirt.
 

 
 

 

 
Enter the Layers Style again, bevel the lace for 1 pixel.
Here I decided to add a texture to the 'lace' so it looked like something
and not a scribble. I wouldn't normally do this if I had 'real lace' there.
I only showed this because it is another way to add texture to something besides using filters.
 

 
 

 

 
Now, we need to add the lace to the Alpha Layers we made.
Select the lace shape...oh, I should have gone into this before.
I do this without thinking so didn't think that you might not know this.
A quick way to select shapes in PS...
 
CTRL + Left Click the layer will select everything on that layer,'shape-wise'.
 
CTRL + Shift + Left Click on another layer will allow you to ADD to your current selection.
So, for instance, where I have the front and back shirt shapes on 2 different layers
I can quickly select both by holding CTRL + Shift and then Left Clicking EACH layer
 
Not sure how to say this understandably,
but to select a shape, then deselect part of it using another shape
CTRL + Left click the first one (or ctrl+shift+click many) and then
CTRL + ALT + left click will then deselect the shape of anything on the layer you just clicked.
 
So, for instance, I CTRL + left click the lace layer.
but since it is a larger selection than what I want to color on the Alpha layer
I can deselect the part of the lace that doesnt show under the shirt by
CTRL + ALT + left clicking the shirt shape layer!
That 'removes' the shirt shape from my current selected shape....
I hope all that made sense, lol
 
Cursor symbols also tell you if you are adding or subracting the layer you are clicking on.
There is a little + or - inside the little box on the hand cursor.
 

 
 

 

 
OK, after selecting the lace and deselecting the shirt shape,
click on each Alpha layer we made and color/fill the lace selection,
white for opaque or a gray shade if you want it transparent in SL.
 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 

 

 
Now, select one of your Alpha Layers, Select All (ctrl + a), Copy (ctrl + c)
 

 
 

 

 
Click the Channels Tab
select the Alpha Layer we made
paste in our new Alpha (ctrl + v)
click the RGB layer.
Click the Layers Tab.
 

 
 

 

 
Now hide all the layers that you DON'T want to show in your SL item
Make sure to set all the other layers,
especially your black background, to show.
Save as a targa file.
 
When you have all your different colored versions done,
Copy/paste the other Alpha layer into the channels
and save those.
 
Open the .tga file(s) you just saved in PS or PSP
and reduce the image file by 50% to 512x512 pixels.
save change. then upload to SL! Done!
 

 
 

 

 
Here is a copy of my psd file of the lovely shirt I just made, if you want to see it.