How do I get past skill level one in my WoW profession?

Ok so I'm fairly new to this game. I have two characters, one who took herbalism and skinning which is going fine, and then I just made the other which I have under alchemy and leather-working (to correspond with my other character via supplies sent from the mail to myself). Anyways, since these two are my first production professions, I'm kinda lost. Of course, after you learn apprentice, you're at skill level one. I browsed through every single potion recipe and pattern and they all seem to require a skill level of 15 or greater! But if there's not something to start out with level 1, then how do I level up?! Do I need to level up my character a bit? I'm only level 12 on that character, does that make a difference. Does it mean level 15, instead of skill level 15?