Great work on the field jacket. You managed to coax a lot of heavy duty work out of your Pfaff 1222, but unfortunately, you may be wearing it out. It may be time for you to move up to an industrial machine. The state of the art is a Juki 5500 series, I use an older 5410 needle feed in my apparel and costume design business. For heavier work on leather and vinyl you'll need a walking foot machine. These machines can be found on Craigslist for very affordable prices. I still use an all metal vintage Pfaff 260 domestic machine for a lot of work since it is extremely versatile, doing straight and zigzag stitching, and it can use various feet and needles easily. It's a little bit of an investment, but once you use an industrial machine, you'll wonder why it took so long. With an industrial you can make those costumes with speed and efficiency, and very few broken needles!