I am doing a 3-tier baby shower cake for this weekend. The bottom tier is a 10" square dummy cake. All 3 tiers are to be covered in fondant. I went to cover the bottom tier tonight & the fondant teared & ripped right off. Any ideas why & how I can stop it from tearing??? PLEASE help!!!

Were you trying to cover the styrofoam? And the fondant ripped on the styrofoam?

Styrofoam is a little bit difficult to cover. You'll need to roll the fondant thicker than what you normally do, so that the sharp edges don't rip the fondant.
You could also cover the edges in a little bit of buttercream.

Good luck!

What did you cover the dummy with to make the fondant adhere to it? Also, how did you roll your fondant out. Did you use alot of powdered sugar when you rolled it? If so, it might be too dry. How thick are you rolling the fondant?

You also need to sand the edges of the cake dummy. I still had trouble with the edges so I guestimated where the fondant would set on the edges and rubbed shortening in that area before I put it on the dummy.
It looked a lot better, much smoother on the edges. After smoothing all the fondant on, I rubbed shortening over the whole thing and then used a lint free cloth to "polished" it off. I don't know if this is the way to go, but I was desperate and it seemed to work.

I, too, suggest sanding the edges. An easy way is to use a scrap piece of styrofoam. Makes a nifty (do they use that word anymore?!) sanding block.

Ok, thanks. Yeah, I haven't tried sanding the edges or anything - I just put the fondant right on the dummy. And I also rolled it normal thickness... about 1/4"

I also have rubbed styrofoam with crisco and then smooth ps on it...it seems to soften it so it stops tearing mmf hth

Definitely cover the styrofoam with a layer of crisco.