Georgia, I would cut the gown apart. I bought a wedding gown at a yard sale for $1.00, yep $1.00. It took me 2 days to cut it and remove the lace. Glad I did, some of the material was dirty, and so was some of the lace. If you just lay out the pattern, you might come up with a bad piece. Also, the gowns aren't sewn together that well, and sometimes there are gathers where there shouldn't be.
By the way, I washed all the lace and it came out beautifully, and so did the material.
Posted on Jun 20, 2005, 6:05 PM from IP address 12.77.47.106