Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m obsessed with bagpipes (specifically Scottish Smallpipes). I talk about piping to anyone who will listen, and forget to stop when I see their eyes glaze over. I’ve made my own bag covers for my pipes, and often create my clothes so that I can play the pipes comfortably.

In the spring of 2025, I began to get the idea of creating a halloween pipe band. Absolutely crazy, but kinda cool if it worked. The biggest issues I saw were getting my skeletons to stand upright, but stable, and attaching fake bagpipes to a skeleton, taking into account gravity and a lack of real arms to hold them.

The kilts and the rest of the clothing was the easiest part.

To make a stand for my skeletons that had to be stable, windproof and cheap, I turned to this blog post and followed it to the letter, except that I bought a ready cut circular base from Home Depot instead of what they recommended. It worked perfectly, saving me a lot of headaches.

The skeleton stand. Easy, inexpensive, windproof and solid.

Making the bagpipes.

When I was putting together the skeleton stand, I realised the PVC pipe used would also be perfect for my bagpipe drones and chanter. I cut them to the correct length and spray painted them black.

Then I had to work out how to make a bag, and keep it firm enough to support the drones. For this I took a heavy duty trash bag, unravelled it until it was completely flat, and put duct tape over the whole area on both sides. Then I cut out a huge wine bottle shape to mimic the bag. I traced this wine bottle shape onto my bag cover fabric, adding seam allowance, and lots of extra length at the chanter end.

I then taped the end of the bag shut and along the bottom half. I used paper from my recycling bin to stuff the bag and give it body.

Duct tape makes a surprisingly good bag.

After this, I placed the chanter in the hole at the end of the bag and taped it until it was secure.

Then came the tricky bit - placing the drones. Now that my skeletons were upright in the back yard, I took the ‘pipes’ out and placed it under the left arm of the skeleton, trying to work out how far forward and how close together the drones needed to be, and how wide all 3 drones could be without them falling off the shoulder. I also made markings on the top of the two tenor drones and the bass drone at the same point, to drill holes through so I could secure them to the skeleton.

I marked on the bag where I thought the drones should be, tracing round the PVC pipe to get an accurate measurement.

To attach each drone to the bag, I used more duct tape, going round and round the base of each drone, then taping some strips lengthways to secure it more. This was not easy! The PVC pipe was pretty heavy, and I had to prop each drone up on pillows to support it while I was trying to attach it.

Then it was time to put on the bag cover. I had already marked where the drones were going to be so I cut those out and shimmied the cover down the drones, and sewed the cover on to the bag. To remove or put on a bag cover with real bagpipes, you take the drones off, then slide the cover on, but that wasn’t an option with these!

I started to get excited by this point because the pipes were starting to look real.

I found a bit of cane to use for the mouth piece and spray painted it black. All that was left was the drone tassels. I decided I liked the look of drone ribbons which would be easier to make with my fabric, and still look really pretty. I cut out two lengths of 2.5 yards of fabric and 4 inches wide. one to face the front, the other to face the back.

Before I attached the drone ribbons, I threaded milliners wire through the drones to keep them stable, and placed the ribbon over this to hide it. I zip tied the ribbon on either side of each drone, giving it the support it needed. The pipes were complete!

Clothing the skeletons.

Before Joann’s closed, I bought up what felt like a million yards of an orange and navy fabric which would sort of pass as a tartan. I had 4 skeletons to clothe, and I decided to make 2 traditional style type kilts, and then two wraparound style kilts.

I wanted the piper to be as authentic as possible, with the kilt, shirt, tie, waistcoat, flashes and a glengarry.

I did feel a bit daft measuring up the skeletons for their clothes…width of the shoulders, neck circumference, arm length, waist, hip, hip to knee etc!

The clothing was surprisingly easy, with the 2 kilts being a bunch of pleats. The wraparound kilts were even easier requiring zero sewing.

Lots and lots and lots of pleats. Easy but very tedious.

The shirts were just a bunch of rectangles.

The waistcoats were also pretty easy.

For the ties, I traced out a tie I already owned on to the fabric, adding allowances for the back and seams.

The flashes were very easy, just needing to cut out the shape, folding the top back and sewing it, then threading through some elastic to tie them onto the skeleton legs.

I wanted to make a glengarry and sporran etc, but I ran out of steam at the end! I attached the kilts to the skeletons with suspenders/braces which were hidden under the waistcoat. The waists were secured with lots of velcro. Lots.

Attaching the pipes to the skeleton.

I decided to use more milliners wire and a load of zip ties to attach the pipes to the skeleton. The wire was wrapped around the shoulder, then down the arm and hand. Then I clothed the skeleton, and place the bag under the arm. I wrapped the wire on the hand tight in the ribs and securing the bag. I further reinforced it by cutting through the shirt and putting more wire around the drones and tying it to the ribs. Zip ties secured the drones to the neck and the blowpipe to the jaw. Working this out definitely kept me awake into the wee small hours! It maybe wasn’t the neatest, but it still looked great.

Not neat, but it was very secure. I’d do the wire differently if I was to do this again.

I bought toy drums off Amazon, and they already came with a strap, so those were simple.

In the end, I had one piper, 2 drummers, and a groupie holding a bottle of Irn Bru, Scotland’s National drink.

On Halloween night, I dressed up in my own kilt, shirt, matching tie and waistcoat and played out in the yard. I might have needed some dutch (or Scottish) courage to get out there, but it was an amazing project that turned out as good as I hoped!

After the Halloween period was over, I took my pipe band to the back yard where they sat for several weeks - I couldn’t bear to disband them after all the work that gone into them.

Now I have to decide what to do for next Halloween, but I’m almost certain nothing I’ll do can top the McRibb Pipes & Drums.

I created a Halloween Pipe Band

Truly Victorian 1894 Shirtwaist - TV494.