Why the name?

It occurred to me at about 2am one morning, often when I do most of my thinking actually, not by choice though I have to admit, I am an insomniac and when the house is quiet and all you hear are your thoughts and the squirrels in the attic, I often start to write a better blog, unfortunately that never seems to materialize. Well as I was laying next my sound asleep hubby and listening to the squirrels and my son snoring that it may seem strange to title a blog "Ella's Wardrobe" when it does nothing to feature clothes, shoes,  Alsan or anything you might find in a wardrobe! So I figured why not share with you ...why the name?!

Back in 2005 one of the hottest summers since I have been here (11 years) we were expecting this delightful bundle of joy, yes I looked crazy cutting the grass with a boob tube on and my pregnant belly poking out underneath, but I didn't care I was hot~literary, passer by's would slow down the car to get a good look at this insane English chick pushing a heavy lawnmower with a 1 1/2 year old (Jude) following me closely! Well later that year  along came our lovely little girl Ella, and like most parents we wanted to make sure she knew how much we loved her by naming everything after her, not that we don't love Jude but Ella is a girl so naturally things will always be more complicated, more effort and more emotional with her, I hate to say that but it's true. Even now at the age of 5 she has mood swings like she is totally PMT'ing! (PMS'ing) get a grip girly pop, you are going to have this for the rest of your life!!!

So anyway in an effort to try to and indulge my little diva I named a clothing line, a blog, an ebay account, twitter account and a facebook page oh and I also have a website address too! All this for a little girl that really rocked our world, we were even going to open up a brick and mortar store called, yep you've guessed it, Ella's Wardrobe. That would have made total sense, as it would have been like stepping into her wardrobe or closet! But thankfully that didn't happen and I can shop without the stress at my fav local boutique without having to pay rent for the space!

The clothing line was fun you can see a sample of what I used to do below, how little those little lovelies were! This obsession with Ella and clothes led to other bigger things, my hubby even built me a studio in our back garden so I wouldn't have to be sewing in the dining room until 3am, although that didn't really stop me, I just had the space to do it in!

5 years later and still blogging (if that's what you call it?) I was thinking of changing the name of this blog to reflect everything else I (we) do, I stopped making so many clothes for other people and now just do one-offs for the princess although I do take requests and oh you can also see some one-of-a-kind T-shirts that I make for the above store too. So go check those out as well when you are getting coffe or something? 
Well we moved the studio to a place that's bigger, still at home but it allows me to really concentrate on home furnishings, windows coverings and my window art. Hence An English View was born, my real business that I actually get paid to do.

So do I keep Ella's Wardrobe? Do I keep this name that started almost everything? I think I will! you never know one day my daughter may take it over from me???

Thanks Ella...Lovexxx