In Business: ‘I turned old leather jackets into handbags – then Songs of Praise changed everything’

Helen Richardson grew up attending Sunday school at her local Methodist church in Hull, but after her parents divorced when she was ten, the family stopped going. It was a divine appointment seven years later, in 1986, that brought Helen back to church and led her to go ‘all in’ on her faith in Jesus.

‘When I was about 17, we’d moved house again, and there was a knock on the door. Someone I didn’t know asked if Maxine was home. Thinking they meant my sister, Maxine, I invited them in. As we got chatting, it turned out this girl was from a different church in town, and she’d been to my dad’s house to see if Maxine was in. He’d said she didn’t live there and sent them to my house. But when my sister got home, we found out it wasn’t my sister they were looking for after all – it was a different Maxine altogether!’

This new friend invited Helen and her sister to church, and they subsequently attended a youth weekend away. Helen asked so many questions about the gospel, including heaven, that someone eventually told her bluntly that Jesus was the way to heaven, and that without believing in him, she wouldn’t go there.

‘I had this moment where something clicked for me. I believed in heaven, but I had never connected it to Jesus. So all of a sudden, loads of things started to fall into place. When we came back from that weekend away, I totally surrendered my life to Jesus. Now, when we look back at that door-caller looking for Maxine, we say it was God saying he was looking for us.’

READ MORE: Five things I have learned about…recycling

Helen’s mum didn’t like having a TV in the house, believing it would encourage the children to sit and watch rather than learn practical skills. So, from the age of five, Helen was crocheting, knitting and embroidering.

Growing up, Helen’s family didn’t have much money, and most of her clothes were hand-me-downs. She dug out her mum’s old hand-cranked sewing machine and taught herself to sew because she wanted to transform the clothes she was given into more fashionable pieces.

Helen went on to study needlework at school. After marrying her husband, whom she had met at church youth group, they welcomed their first child, Emily. Helen made all her daughter’s dressing-up clothes from old fabrics, including a mermaid costume fashioned from a sparkly sari passed on by an Indian friend.

Helen later had her son, Isaac, and as Emily grew older and began preferring jeans, leggings and T-shirts, Helen gradually stopped sewing.

It wasn’t until 15 years later, when she and her husband joined a new church-planting team in another area of Hull, that Helen picked up a sewing machine again.

‘Our leaders encouraged us as a church-planting team to have interests outside of church so we could meet with non-Christians. One day, while scrolling through Pinterest, I saw a picture of an old leather jacket, then an arrow, and a handbag that really inspired me to transform unwanted clothing into bags. So I dusted off my sewing machine, hoping to start a new hobby and meet people.’

For her first project, Helen wanted to turn old fabric into a handbag. She didn’t want to use vinyl because plastic doesn’t biodegrade, so instead she transformed a friend’s old leather jacket into a bag. Soon, she was trawling local charity shops for unwanted leather jackets and giving them a new lease of life.

READ MORE: ‘Sewing into people’s lives’

‘Every bag was different because you had to use whichever bits of the jacket you had, and you could incorporate the pockets. I started making them for friends’ birthdays, just for fun, but then their friends would want one! I ended up putting them on my Facebook page, and then my daughter encouraged me to make a separate Facebook page and Instagram account for people to see my work.’

Helen was working part-time in local government while making bags in her attic workshop, earning just enough to cover her costs. Because she loved sewing so much, she sometimes worried it was taking up too much of her time, so she regularly surrendered it to the Lord.

‘It was Oct 23 2022, the day after my daughter’s wedding a lady I didn’t know came up to me at church in Watford, and said ‘you may not feel like you are seeing results yet – but keep on sowing/sewing. And you have a story to tell about the Lord and his faithfulness. Ask God how he would like you to share this. He takes great delight in you.’ I said to the lady afterwards that she probably thought God was saying sowing – but of course he could have meant sewing. I believe He did.’

From then Helen saved as much of her monthly salary as possible so she could have a buffer of cash. Then the following summer (2023) she gave up work to sew full-time.

‘I didn’t earn anywhere near enough to call it a salary but it felt the right. Sometimes people ask why upcycling materials matters so much to me, and I get to talk to them about my faith. I explain that God was the first upcycler because he took us, who were destined for hell, and upcycled us into something new.’

Helen believes that because God is a creator, we all have something within us that comes alive when we create.

Helen believes that because God is a creator, we all have something within us that comes alive when we create. Whether it’s cooking, gardening, sewing, crocheting or drawing, we’re reflecting something of our heavenly Father. She is often invited to sewing groups, where she talks about Jesus because she wants people to know that he is the passion behind her sewing.

’Everything I make incorporates something that’s been thrown away. God created our beautiful planet, and we’re ruining it, so if I can save things from landfill, great!

’I want to help people shift their mindset from always buying new fabric to seeing what’s around them as having potential. If there are duvet covers in the charity shop, don’t think of them as duvet covers, but as two big pieces of fabric.

‘I want everything to have a second chance. I make a lot of handbags from old sofas that have been in someone’s house for maybe ten or 15 years, and then they get another life for ten years as a handbag.’

In April 2024, a friend from church shared that she felt God wanted to grow Helen’s business to the point where she would need to hire someone to help her. She said: God has made you a master craftsman, redeeming things that are seen as worthless…you are honouring your Father, by copying him, taking your time on every stitch to create beautiful unique things from stuff others see as rubbish, just like the father.

READ MORE: ‘God used my stitching to show people his goodness’

 Having no natural desire to build a big business, Helen simply prayed: ‘Lord, your will be done.’

Having no natural desire to build a big business, Helen simply prayed: ‘Lord, your will be done.’ In July 2026, BBC’s Songs of Praise came to Hull to film an episode on the theme of renewal. When the production team contacted Helen about featuring her upcycling business, Sew Helen Richardson, she was excited but determined to keep her hope in Jesus rather than in the television appearance.

‘In the end, Aled Jones was here in Hull for a day and a half filming, and our interview was on the programme for four minutes. The episode aired on the Sunday, and while it was on, I could see my Instagram and Facebook followers going up.’

The following day, Helen made a reel introducing herself to her new followers, which received half a million views. She then created a series of reels demonstrating how to turn single-use plastic into pencil cases and transform old duvet covers and shirts featuring the Wombles or the Muppets into fun clothing. Helen had never intentionally tried to grow an online following. She simply shared her work and showed people how she made her bags. But her Facebook community has now grown to 35,000 followers.

‘We need to be more aware that every purchase we make, everything we buy, leaves a footprint on the planet. If I can change people’s opinions on second-hand items, that’s a good thing. People often wear things for a season rather than until they’ve worn out.’

Following her Songs of Praise appearance, Helen’s website was inundated with customers wanting to buy her bags. She stopped attending craft fairs and took early retirement at 54 to focus on Sew Helen Richardson. Until then, Helen had only earned enough to cover her costs. Now, the business is making a profit, and after years of sewing, she has finally been able to pay herself a salary. ’The thing that pushed me to hand in my notice in the end was that one of my colleagues died who was my age. And I just thought, we only have one life; I need to go for it. After Songs of Praise, I got messages from Singapore, Mauritius and all over the world from people saying, “Your faith has inspired me to start upcycling businesses in my nation.”

‘If only half a dozen people do it, it means there are other people like me sharing the faith and saving the planet at the same time.’ Helen also loves sharing her faith with the people who buy her bags and offers to pray with them. Despite her growing success, Helen remains willing to surrender Sew Helen Richardson if she feels God is calling her to do so.

‘I have a sort of obsessive personality. If I do something, I do it all in. But because of that, I never want Sew Helen Richardson to become more important than he is.’

Although she never set out to build a large business, Helen is now inundated with orders and requests for different bags. ‘I’m quite happy to be under the radar and have nobody ever know who I am. Because, ultimately, I knew I was saving things from landfill, and that was enough for me. But if God wants to grow Sew Helen Richardson, he will.’ A friend is currently helping Helen by cutting leather into bag patterns, allowing her to speed up production. Looking ahead, she is praying about whether to hire someone to help with orders, administration and packing.

‘I don’t really know what my plan is going forward yet. I just want to keep the joy of sewing and creating. I don’t want to get bogged down in running a business, but it’s happening organically, really.’ In a world that tells us life is about getting what we want, Helen reminds us, as Christian women, to consider what the planet needs too. She recommends asking ourselves four simple questions before making another purchase:

Do I really need it?

Do I already have something similar?

Could I borrow what I need from someone else?

Could I alter or refresh something I already own and love?

Helen also encourages women to discover their own creative outlets. And if you’re not sure where to start, why not try sewing? Altering clothes is a wonderful way to reduce waste, save items from landfill and connect with new people. For Helen, what began as a hobby has become a thriving business and an unexpected opportunity to share Jesus with people around the world. It’s a reminder that God can use even the simplest gifts when we place them in his hands.

Follow @‌sew.helen.richardson on Instagram or visit her Facebook page for updates on new collections. You can also visit the Sew Helen Richardson website to discover her handmade bags