Facts:
• Yes, you can only take one tradeskill past 200.
• 208 Tailoring is the
trivial. That is skill level at which you can no longer gain skill by trying the final Shawl 6 combine.
• 208 Tailoring is
not the "95% success chance" point. Even at 208 skill, you still have a success chance less than 95%.
• However, it is actually
not necessary to raise Tailoring to 208 to succeed on Shawl 6.
My suggestion/opinion:
• Get to like 168 Tailoring, or whatever skill level is reasonably attainable, and then try the combine until you succeed. Even if you fail several times, this will statistically save time over actually raising your skill to something close to the trivial level.
Remember, folks, the "trivial" is not the same as "maximum (95%) success chance". The 95% point is much higher.
Regarding Brewing - you don't have to have 248 brewing to get Ring 9. Someone else can do the brewing for you, or you can do it on an alt. In fact, any number of players can share one Brewing mule to do this. Or maybe you have a crazy friend.
Use this table if you're serious.
https://wiki.project1999.com/TradeskillTable