linen/cotton blend

Yesterday, I purchased several yards of linen/cotton blend to make a dress and now I realize I don't know what to do with it first.  Do I machine wash, tumble dry low?  Machine wash, line dry?    Oh, and a suggestion on fabric for bodice lining would be great too.  Not sure about mixing fabrics.  Previous garments have all been 100% cotton...

Wash and dry it the same way you will when it's a finished garment. You could even do it a couple times to make sure all the shrinkage will happen before and not after.  As for lining, you can use whatever you'd prefer, just be sure to prewash it the same way as your garment fabric so it doesn't do something funky on you when you wash the finished garment. Maybe a cotton would work nicely?

Exactly what Betsy said!

Thank you both for the help.  My major concern was the weave going 'off square' (for lack of a better way of describing it) before I got a chance to make the dress.  There's no place local for me to buy fabric, so I didn't want to ruin it before I even got the scissors out!!  --I don't know enough yet about these things to shop confidently online--