CSS and floats within floats

Question

Does anyone know how to place two repeating elements side by side in following example:

.thumbnail {
  float: left;
  width: 30px;
  border: 1px solid #999;
  margin: 0 15px 15px 0;
}
.clearboth { clear:both; }


<!-- repeating element -->
<div class="thumbnail">1A</div>
<div class="thumbnail">1B</div>
<div class="thumbnail">1C</div>
<br class="clearboth">
<div class="thumbnail">2A</div>
<div class="thumbnail">2B</div>
<div class="thumbnail">2C</div>
<br class="clearboth">

<!-- repeating element -->
<div class="thumbnail">1A</div>
<div class="thumbnail">1B</div>
<div class="thumbnail">1C</div>
<br class="clearboth">
<div class="thumbnail">2A</div>
<div class="thumbnail">2B</div>
<div class="thumbnail">2C</div>
<br class="clearboth">

The trick is I am already using float and clear properties to style each repeating element individually. But when nesting floated elements within floated elements it does not work.

jSFiddle

Answer 1

check out this

<!-- repeating element -->
<div id="first">
<div class="thumbnail">1A</div>
<div class="thumbnail">1B</div>
<div class="thumbnail">1C</div>
<br class="clearboth">
<div class="thumbnail">2A</div>
<div class="thumbnail">2B</div>
<div class="thumbnail">2C</div>
<br class="clearboth">
</div>    
<!-- repeating element -->
<div id="second">    
<div class="thumbnail">1A</div>
<div class="thumbnail">1B</div>
<div class="thumbnail">1C</div>
<br class="clearboth">
<div class="thumbnail">2A</div>
<div class="thumbnail">2B</div>
<div class="thumbnail">2C</div>
<br class="clearboth">
</div>

css goes

.thumbnail {
float: left;
width: 30px;
border: 1px solid #999;
margin: 0 15px 15px 0;
}
.clearboth { clear:both; }

#first{float:left;}
#second{float:left;}