I agree with your decision...that's too much ripping if you can make it work without the ripping. Only you will know. On the other hand, one thing I've found to make ripping go faster is that third hand helping to hold one side tight while you "rip". If my mom didn't have someone to act as a third hand, she used to pin one side to her skirt (held tight around her leg) to act as a third hand and kept moving the pin as she went. I found a little clamp years ago, probably from Nancy's Notions, that you fasten to the edge of a table and it has a clip that holds your fabric and acts as the third hand. I not only use it to hold my fabric when ripping, but it's also when hemming a skirt by hand. Any gadget that makes an unpleasant task easier it worth it in my book!