Sewing close to boning?

[gem]

Ok, I now have all the binding pinned on to the corset, and I'm ready to go.  Or, *it's* ready to go; I still haven't worked my nerve up yet! Ha!

The directions recommend using a zipper foot to sew close to the boning, and I did notice that my normal foot had a little trouble going along the top, as I closed the top edge. The binding is attached with 1/4" seam allowances.  When I bound the tabs, I used my 1/4" quilting foot (skinny little toes and the 1/4" line marked on the foot) to attach the binding, and my clear plastic foot to stitch in the ditch.

The trouble is, my zipper foot does not look like this one:


It looks like this:


And it completely obscures the seam guides on the face plate (the 1/4" one is hard to see anyway).  I've tried futzing with the needle position, but I'm still having trouble getting it to find the 1/4" mark.  It would be a whole lot easier if I could *see* what I'm doing.

Does anyone have any tips?  Do I have any other feet that might work?  I might have a (normal) zipper foot for my old Brother, but if I do, I never used it and may not be able to find it.  (ETA: I did find it, but it's still rather wide and I'd *prefer* to use the Viking, if I can.  The Brother feet won't fit the Viking.)  I have the following feet for my Viking:

--4 standard feet (straight/zigzag, decorative/zigzag, Teflon, and transparent)
--Blind hem
--2-sided zipper (shown above)
--Edging
--1/4" quilter's/piecing foot
--gathering foot (guessing this one won't be that helpful for this application)

I also have the Viking walking foot attachment.

Ideas?  Thanks!!

[Kate XXXXXX]

Get one of those narrow generic feet and fit it to the Husqvarna.  It'll take that fitting - just take the white plastic ankle off first, and use the screw from that to fit the new foot.  If you can borrow one, even better: you can check that it sits on the feed dogs and feeds the fabric through without paying out any cash!   

[Artemisia]

Is it possible to sew the channels without having the boning in the corset?
If so, I would just draw on either side of the boning to mark the channels and then sew down the line.

Or is the boning already sewn closed into the corset?
Can you use your zipper foot and move the needle placement to the far left? That way the stitches end up close to the boning.

[Genievea Brookstone]

Can you use your zipper foot and move the needle placement to the far left? That way the stitches end up close to the boning.

This is what I do and it works fine. My zipper foot looks just like yours Gem. I also have marked my free arm with perm marker for the different seams when I can't see the markings on my foot plate.

[Artemisia]

Gem, there is a new thread on corsetmakers livejournal that addresses this problem with your machine:
http://community.livejournal.com/corsetmakers/1662814.html

One of the options is a felling foot.

[gem]

Thanks, everyone!

I'm actually talking about attaching the binding, not sewing the boning channels, but these are all good tips.

The 1/4" foot turned out to do a fine job on the first pass of binding, and I'm hoping my luck holds out with my clear foot.  Everything is pinned in place, and I'm waiting for a brave moment.

...Also waiting to figure out how to do the fiddly bits where two bound seams hit each other, but for which the instructions gave no indication of how to manage.

[LadyShadow]

I think in those cases you are supposed to miter the corners.  Or at least attempt to.