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Making a Vinyl Bag for the Uilleann Pipes
By Eric M. Wilson
So the curiosity finally got the
best of me one day. I've heard all the rage about vinyl bags for
uilleann pipes, players like Patrick Sky, Paddy Keenan and even
Seamus Ennis enjoyed their vinyl bags, so I thought I'd try making
some myself and see how I liked them over the traditional leather
bags. Easier said then done, especially when you have no one to
show you all of what not to do, so it was a bit of a trial and error
process, but I think I've come up with something that works anyway.
 I
started by buying a yard of marine grade black colored vinyl from
Joann's Fabric store, cost about 13 dollars. I found you can make
up to two bags with the one yard of vinyl, but unfortunately you
are left with quite a bit of scrap pieces which I have yet to think
of a good use for, but I'm sure they can be used for something in
piping... Before doing anything remove all stocks from your old
bag. After this I laid my old leather bag (flat) on top of the vinyl,
with the meshed cloth side of the vinyl facing up, shiny black side
down. For my vinyl bag, I used my old Seth Gallagher L&M bag
as a template, simply because I was happy with the size of this
bag. (I'd like to state the L&M bags are tough as nails and
will last you quite a while, for uilleann pipes anyway. I found
nothing wrong with these bags, but as I said I was curious about
the vinyl so here we are.) I then traced the bag all the way around,
except for the very top of the bag, since that will be the center
folding point (or, the "top" of the bag for lack of a
better term) for the bag, the only edge that does not get glued
or stitched, just like the leather bags. After this, I took a yard
stick and measured the overall length of the bag, 28 inches, and
traced it with the marker - this line is again the folding point
for the bag. Then I took the old leather bag, and flipped it along
that center folding point, and I then traced the bag again. For
the sake of simplicity, we'll call these two lines, line number
1, since even though you traced the old bag twice, it will (should)
come together making one line. You might discover that when you
flipped the bag over to trace it the second time, that the top of
the bag, or the center folding point, does not line up perfectly
straight with the 1st trace you made, this goes the same for the
end of the neck. This is why I took the yard stick and measured
my desired overall length, it's much easier then trying to get your
old leather bag to lay perfectly straight if it doesn't want to
naturally. You might wonder how then did I manage to trace the bag
the second time, and get it to line up when I have to fold it over
later... Well I was primarily concerned with the gap in the neck
for the chanter stock, after that it's just a matter of shape, and
then getting your shape to line up evenly for the seam, so that's
how I looked at it. Just make sure when you measure the gap for
the chanter stock, that you leave enough room for it, although this
can be a little tricky since the vinyl stretches a bit more then
the leather. See diagram 1: 
After all of this, I then proceeded to mark where the seam of the
bag would be. I did this by going around one inch INSIDE of line
number 1 with a tape measure, and placing a dot every 2-3 inches.
After that I simply connected the dots with the marker again. You
might not even have to do all of this, but it gives you an idea
of what the seam will be like when completed, it's a bit of a guide
anyway. We'll call this line number two, see diagram 2:
After this, on one half of the bag template, go around 1 inch OUTSIDE
of line 1, and again mark dots every 2-3 inches, connect the dots
cleanly again. This will be line number 3, see diagram 3:
Once this has been completed, go ahead and proceed to cut out one
half of the bag template, making sure to cut along line number 3.
After cutting out this half, fold this half over the center folding
point, so that it matches up with the other un-cut half of the bag,
making sure that the edges are lining up cleanly. Starting to look
like a bag! From here, you can then easily trace the other half
of line 3, the one inch seam marking outside line number 1. After
this has been completed, make sure your edges match up pretty close,
then cut out the rest of the bag using the other half of line number
3.
From here you will need 2 large, very flat pieces of plywood of
some sort, some wax paper, and some 3M
5200 Marine Adhesive Sealant Fast Cure or Slow Cure, I used
the 24 hour Fast Cure. If you use either the slow cure or the fast
cure, be sure to let the bag sit for a week before using. A caulking
gun sized container can run about 13 dollars or so, and should be
enough for 3 or 4 bags if not a few more.
Ideally you want at least a 1 inch wide seam since we are gluing
here and not sewing and/or saddle stitching these bags together.
This will ensure your bag does not implode... Take one of the large
pieces of plywood and lay it down somewhere. Then take some wax
paper and cover that entire piece of plywood so that your vinyl
is not touching the plywood. Then lay your bag down on top of the
wax paper, and have some more wax paper ready to cover the top half
of the bag after we glue it. I used a caulking gun for gluing, but
be careful when you set it down, that the glue isn't still coming
out even though you aren't squeezing the gun. This happened to me
and it can get messy real quick if you aren't on top of things.
Along line number 1, go ahead and lay about a half inch-thick steady,
smooth and constant stream of glue around one half of the bag template.
I tell you to glue along line number one because when you clamp
the bag down later, the glue will expand as it is being compressed.
The idea is that you'll have some room for the glue to expand on
line number one, and in between lines 3 and 2, creating your seam.
Obviously the more glue you used the wider your seam will be, so
when I say lay a half inch thick line of glue, that's just a ballpark
figure, could probably be a little thinner than even this. Please
be careful with this adhesive, if you get it on anything you'll
wish you hadn't, it's very messy and stays on your hands for days!!
Doesn't wash out of clothes either. Once you're done gluing, fold
the bag over and of course, making sure all the edges line up smartly.
Go ahead and lay the second layer of wax paper on top of the bag,
and place the second large piece of plywood on top of the bag. After
this either lay something heavy like weights or sandbags on top
of everything, this will act as a clamp. I'd recommend leaving it
clamped for at least 72 hours, after that if you wish, you can "unclamp"
everything and just let the bag sit somewhere for the remaining
4 days before using.
If you did your gluing right, you shouldn't have any wax paper sticking
to your bag. After your (impatiently, ha) waiting of 7 days for
the adhesive to cure, you can now use your new bag. Going back to
line number 3 now, I had you do this so that once the gluing and
curing is completed you could then take some sharp kitchen shears,
and CAREFULLY trim off the access of the glued seam, making for
a nice clean finished product. Just be sure to leave at least that
1 inch seam we talked about earlier.
Tying In
I found tying in to be a little trickier then with the slightly
thicker leather, less stretching leather bags. I managed to tie
in the blowpipe stock and main cup stock just fine using the X cut
pattern [illustration 1], but I think for the main stock cup I would
opt for the 8 line star cut pattern, it's a little safer that way
I think. For the chanter stock [illustration 2], you won't need
any rolled pieces of leather to fill in the gaps created by a leather
saddle stitched bag. Since the seam is so thin on the vinyl bag,
(probably about 1 or 2/16 of an inch thick) you can just wrap the
seam around the neck and then tie in the chanter stock, worked just
fine I found. For tie in cord I used waxed artificial sinew, and
it worked like a charm. After this it's pretty much plug everything
in and she should be 100% air tight, pretty nice eh?
 
Final Thoughts
So it might take a little bit of time and effort, but now you can
make your own bags should you ever need to, or want to. And being
able to make one all under 30 dollars, (and if you can find deals
on adhesive and vinyl like I did, you can easily do it all for under
20 dollars) is a pretty sweet deal. A new leather bag would run
somewhere around 150 dollars, so even if the vinyl might not last
as long as the leather, you're still saving money even if you have
to replace one every 5-10 years. So far I'm liking mine a lot. I'm
sure there can be improvements made, but all in all it's a good
thing. A quick thought on tying in methods for the blowpipe and
main stock cup, you might try a single circular hole, and then stretch
the stocks through, might be even safer then cutting an X or star
pattern? Something to try anyway. I realize I have quite the detailed
guide on how I made these bags, but I did this in hopes that it
would save others a lot of guess work like I had to. I had found
basic instructions online, but none with half of the details I mentioned
here, so I hope you found my experiences useful if not entertaining
at the least. Thank you for your time.
-Eric M. Wilson
December 2, 2009
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