Weddingbee boards

I do not recommend a safety pin. Take it to another seamstress if you have to. I don't know what your dress is made out of but a safety pin will surely leave a hole on any fabric and the weight of the bustle will definitely either make the hole bigger or eventually rip through the dress as the day goes on. Not to mention it's just not THAT easy to pin it and think it's going to look as the picture. If it's a mermaid, pulling it up and over may not leave you much room to walk and change the shape of the dress from the front side. Next time you're having a dress trial, try it out and see how it looks first. Then insist on the way you want it. If she won't do it, take it somewhere else. Or perhaps tell her to make the existing bustle more "swingy" looking.

I agree, you should have a seamstress do it.  Mine created the overbustle by sewing teeny tiny buttons up by my butt, covered in my dress fabric taken when she was hemming, and then teeny tiny button holes down on the skirt.  (I had three, but it would work equally well with one unless your train was too big, like mine was).  I have pics of my bustle in some of my posts if you want to check it out.

Oh, I agree -- the left is much prettier!  But yes, you definitely need a seamstress to set you up to be able to do it.  You risk damaging the dress otherwise if you just safety pin it.  If you can't stomach asking the "confident" seamstress, find another one to do it for you.  Fabric can get really heavy, and there's the risk someone could step on the small bit of hem that's hanging down, and that would be a disaster if the bustle isn't secured properly!  Good luck!