I am about to start covering a cake, and can't make myself start because now I'm afraid my design is going to look stupid. It's a pillow, but I carved it from a 10" round that is from a 2" pan. I did let it dome a lot, but it's still short. So my first brilliant idea was to make a pleated pillow, with tassels around the outside (about an inch apart) with sugar jewels at each tassel. I made the tassels from gumpaste, and when I center them on the sides, they touch the board. Wouldn't be a problem (maybe) except they are black and my board is black, so now they are hard to see. I'm afraid it's going to look like an alien creature with lots of legs, so then I figure I can move them up, but then I am going to mess up the top border of the pillow. I might be able to leave that off, but I might need it to clean up the pleated look I plan on doing. I am afraid to shorten the tassels but they might crack...
And, I don't think BC will hold some of the jewels on the side of the cake (few are bigger) and they are purple, so I have to have something white on the back so they show up against the cake. Can I use candy melts, or will that rip the fondant? (I would have to leave to pick up PS to make RI...sigh)
I'm really scared this cake is going to suck now, so sorry for this being so long. Maybe someone will have a solution for one of this cake's many issues!

I don't necessarily have pillow cake advice, but to attach the gems I would use the melted chocolate. Good luck!