I had to re-vamp the Moto Jacket plan a little bit. The site where I found the Dyneema Denim is a fraud site, and it seems that Dyneema has stopped making their denim, or has at the very least stopped selling it to the public.
So now it's kevlar, and it isn't white and silver because I can't find kevlar in white denim. Only indigo or black. I wanted visibility, so I'm going with a darker piping and shoulder accent that is light reflective.
Update January 2026, amid the horrors: Can I ever make up my mind? No. No I cannot. After realizing that the Kevlar is only 33" wide and that I would need MUCH more of it at that insane price per yard I discussed with my husband (qualifications: has been riding dirt bikes in the mountains since he could hold on to his dad on the back of one) and decided on a change: Jacket out of Cordura HP, reinforce shoulders, elbows, and upper back with Kevlar.
Husband thinks this might be overkill for a jacket I'm going to wear while riding a Yamaha scooter for 2 miles at a time. I think it's upgrade-proof for if/when I end up on a real motorcycle. He did talk me out of spine armor, though... "If you're riding so fast you drag knee when you turn a corner, you -specifically- need to slow the fsk down."
At any rate, I have purchased Cordura samples in Black, Slate, and Navy and all the hardware from Sailrite as well as the shoulder fabric from Mood. I had him toss in the piping months ago on one of our increasingly-rare Amazon orders, which is why the jacket is still a dark theme despite the availability of Cordura in white. I'm also much less drawn to light colors in my personal style in general.
The pattern is still Midnight Moto, View A, size 46 (Gunnar Deatherage).
New links:
Kevlar - 3 Yards (Big Z Fabric $62.90/yd, $188.70 total)
Shoulders - 1/2 yard (Mood Fabrics $49.96/yd, $24.98 total)Lining - 2 yards (Mood Fabrics $19.96/yd, $39.92 total) Obtained blue cotton lining for free!
Piping - Full bundle (Amazon $13.99)
Snaps - 10 pack (Sailrite $7.10)
Separating Zipper - qty 1, 18" sz #10 (Sailrite $4.80)
Zipper Chain - 5' length, sz #10 (Sailrite $4.75)
Bottom Stop - #10, 10 pack (Sailrite $1.30)
Top Stop - #10, 10 pack (Sailrite $1.70)
Zipper Pulls - #10, 10 pack, locking (Sailrite $6.50)
I'm leaving out the shoulder and elbow armor, but I do still want to put a pocket for a back piece in there. This one seems good.
Without the armor piece the total is running $293.74 before taxes and shipping.
On the shoulders I want to reinforce behind the reflective fabric with some more kevlar (as of the update this will be reflective fabric flatlined with Cordura and Kevlar), but I think I want to embroider a simple line-style bee on the outer shoulder cap (pattern piece H). On the elbows I want to add an extra layer or two of the kevlar over the top, maybe with some more decorative stitching to hold it all together. Honeycomb?
Because of how hard kevlar is on scissors, I think I want to see about rotary cutting this. The bigger pieces, like the fronts and back and maybe a couple of the sleeve pieces, might be tricky, but I'd rather go through a dozen or so blades than have to buy a new pair of good shears for this. My mom has multiple cutting mats - maybe I can cut this out at her house? Part of the update: I don't have to go anywhere to do this now that I've reduced the use of Kevlar in the jacket - my own cutting mat is more than enough to fit the enforced pieces.
