fell in love with designing and sewing her own clothes shortly after her first son was born. There was no way she could afford her dream skirt from Anthropologie on their current student budget, so she used the skills her mom had taught her along with the few she remembered from her beginning sewing course in college, and sewed her own version of that skirt with $6 worth of fabric she got on clearance from JoAnns. From then on, she couldn’t stop dreaming up new clothing designs and creating patterns for them using clothing she already owned as base patterns.
She launched her blog, elleapparelblog.com in 2007 as a place to showcase her designs. She included tutorials on how to make her clothing, and was so excited to see others using her tutorials to make the clothing she had designed. While her husband was in law school they welcomed their second baby boy, and Leanne opened a small online shop selling cardigans she designed. Her small clothing company grew quickly and after a year she started manufacturing her designs and launched her own clothing line at leannebarlow.com. Her blog Elle Apparel has developed into a style/sewing blog, showcasing her own personal style, sewing tutorials for her new designs, beauty tips, and more. She loves producing fresh new content and using it as an outlet for channeling her creativity.
Leanne currently lives just outside of Los Angeles, CA with her high school sweetheart husband, Garrett, her sons Bradley (5), Cash (3), with a third baby boy on the way. While fashion and clothing design play a huge role in her career, her true joy in life comes from being a stay at home mom to her kids. Follow along with her on instagram, @leannebarlow.
took her first sewing class at age eleven. She gave up after a year or so and didn’t touch a sewing machine again until twelve years later after her first baby was born and she was in desperate need of new clothing. After many failed attempts, a lot of trial and error, hours of studying her store bought clothing, and a million frantic text message questions to Leanne, she slowly gained confidence and skill. Now five years later she is insanely passionate about clothing design and construction, more than half of her closet is handmade or refashioned, and she can’t go two weeks without making herself a new dress.