Like many Scottish kids, I grew up playing the chanter and later the bagpipes. My neighbours are probably relieved that I only play the much quieter Scottish Smallpipes now. I prefer their sweet, lyrical tone compared to the more rousing sound of their Highland cousins.

Ever since I got my first set of pipes, I’ve fancied having a shot at making my own bag cover. Usually they tend to be velvet or corduroy in black, deep red, bottle green or navy. Some pipers prefer tartan which comes in all sorts of cool colours, but it gets a bit repetitive. I wanted to do something different. For this bag cover, I wanted to try Harris Tweed. I’ve had a years-long love affair with tweed. It’s sturdy and durable, and it’s perfect for a bag cover. It has a stiffer consistency which I like and it makes the bag easier to hold under the arm.

I trawled through all the tweed websites and eventually settled on this one. It had all my favourite colours in it and it reminded me of Scottish heather on the hills, with its purples and muted greens. Tweed is eyewateringly expensive, so I only bought a meter and hoped to goodness I didn’t muck it up. My pipes already had a black velvet cover, so I unpicked it, opened it up and traced the pattern onto paper. I decided I wanted this bag cover to be a little bit shorter and the holes an inch lower, and I marked those on the paper.

The next step was to try a prototype to see if it fit and if there was anything I needed to change. I also wanted to add an apple airtag to a secret pocket inside the cover. You wouldn’t believe it, but bagpipes are frequently stolen. I want to track mine if the worst happens.

Trying out different Apple airtag placements

The fabric for Prototype #1 was a huge mistake. The ‘just out of prison’ fabric gave me vertigo and I had a hard job trying not to puke when I was working with it! I was pretty pleased with the fit but wanted to work on the hidden pocket a bit more and change the shape of the back end of the cover. Prototype #2 was exactly what I wanted. I forgot to take a photo. Whoops. Same stripey fabric. Same vertigo.

Then came cutting the tweed. I wont lie. I was really nervous about doing this! I wish I’d taken more photos and I really regret not doing that. But something tells me this won’t be my last bag cover.

I really hate hand sewing, but I had to do it to sew the tweed round the drone and blow holes (yes, interesting terminology in Scottish smallpipes…add in ‘blow pipe’ and I bet you can’t keep a straight face - I have the humour of a teenage boy).

Ever wonder what bagpipes look like without the bag cover?

Fitting the airtag pocket was the worst. The tweed was much thicker than the prototype and I sewed really slowly in case I broke a needle.

I really love the end result. It’s the nicest bag cover I’ve ever had. I think it could have been a little longer over the chanter but it doesn’t bother me that much.

This has been one of my favourite sewing projects, and I’m looking forward to making another one in the future. I think I’ll stick with Harris Tweed. It comes in really fun and interesting colours sometimes.

I’m one very happy piper.

Fancy a wee tune? Gary and Kerry play The Inverness Gathering.

Scottish Smallpipes bag cover.

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