I'm going to be doing my first topsy turvy in a couple of weeks, so I'm trying to get a game plan together. I've reviewed the tutorials about a billion times, so in theory, I know *how* to do it, but I still need to decide exactly how I want it to look (dimensions, colors, patterns etc). I've looked through the galleries and have seen so many beautiful cakes, but a lot of them leave out the details like how big and how many cakes in each tier, type of icing, filling etc. Things that a newbie really wants to know...
I would love to see your masterpieces and hear your techniques, tips, mistakes etc.
Thanks so much to all of the talented cakers on here for your wonderful advice and ideas!

the red one in my photos was 5,9 ,13. all 3 layers each. white cake with BC filling and ganache under the fondant. HTH

The 2 tiered sewing theme one in my gallery were as follows: bottom tier was 3 layers, 10,9,and 8 inch rounds and the top tier was 3 layers 8, 7, and 6 inch rounds. After filling with buttercream the sides were evened out with a bit of carving.

Here's my first (and only so far) topsy turvy. http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1722493

It was 8, 10, 12. As you can see, it almost fell over! I've never had a problem with dowelling before, but I guess the topsy turvy weight did me in - and I didn't even travel with it. Just from kitchen out to the deck. LOL It was for my niece and she loved it anyway - but I spent about an hour in the morning repairing it as best I could. Be sure you go heavy on the dowels, and I would trust regular dowels again. I'd use the heavy duty pilar type dowels. And be sure to let it settle before you finish icing and stacking. Next time I'll fill and crumb coat the night before, and let it settle till the next day then finish icing and stacking.

The only other tip I can share is that it took me waaaaayyyy longer to carve it into shape and ice it (before fondant even) that I thought it would. Hours longer!

Good luck with yours!

Those are fantastic! Thank u for the guidance