craftgrrl | seeking vinyl sewing tips

i have been making these vinyl metrocard holders for awhile, but it is a huge pain in the *&& to sew them (by machine). the vinyl always sticks to the sewing machine foot, and no matter how well i pin it all together, the top piece gets dragged away from the bottom. so far, the best way i've come up with is to sew them with a leather needle, a wide stitch, and a piece of tissue paper over the vinyl. the tissue paper stops the sticking to the foot problem, and gets ripped off after i am done.

this works, but i am wondering if anyone knows of some other ways to sew vinyl that might save wasting a sheet of paper and would avoid the "blind" sewing that needs to be done through the paper (it's also hard to get the reminants of paper out of the stitching when it's ripped off). i have questioned whether the quality of my machine is making it harder (i have a lower end singer, but it doesn't seem to work differently when i use my friend's classic singer).

any hints would be greatly appreciated. thanks!