Auto trimming

I am going to attempt to recover the seats in a Morris Mini I'm restoring. I have two different sets of covers to use as patterns that have been put together differently - and I've seen a third style of assembly.

The first from the same period as the car uses cotton flock material as the padding in the pleats - the pleats are folded with hidden stitching ( French Pleats?)

The second uses foam backed vinyl cut into strips then sewn together to simulate pleats and finally the third method was just a sheet of foam backed vinyl with rows of stitches to make pretend pleats.

I gather the progression was more to do with economics rather than function - I prefer the first as the stitching appears to be more flexable and not tear the vinyl as much.

Any thoughts as to what is preferable? Also is foam as effective and durable as the cotton wadding? and can you reuse the cotton wadding or is it better to use new?

I'd use new cotton wadding, simply because its not really a high cost item. I don't consider foam a good material for the inside of a car because unless you know what you are buying, there's a good chance it'll turn to dust in a few short years.

As for which design option, you have either the 'whatever was done originally on that particular year/model' for the restoration purist, or the 'whatever looks better suited to my sewing skills' approach!

Hot tips for sewing vinyl...I found that tissue paper was a good slip sheet to use on the face of the vinyl to ensure that it ran through the machine reasonably smoothly without sticking (sew through it, tear off when finished); virtually no tension on the presser foot can also help sew it; judicious use of contact adhesive can help keep things in place while sewing, and an extra layer of stout cloth on the underside can help prevent stitches tearing the vinyl.

As above with a couple of points if you have access to a walking foot machine you will have far less feeding troubles, with cotton wadding you have to take a bit more care as it is less forgiving than foam,