Making the Jo March Dress (Sewing Tutorial)

The Jo March Dress is a sweet layering piece with lots of volume in the skirt, pockets & an optional tulle petticoat for added delight! Make your own with this sewing tutorial.

I hope you enjoy this video - let me know in the comments what you want me to make next!

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:05 What you need
2:10 Bodice construction
11:00 Skirt construction
14:16 lil chat about life
16:34 Attaching the skirt
18:27 Petticoat
21:52 Final look!

Let’s be friends!

Sewing on a Juki DDL 8700 & My Lock 644D overlocker
Fav domestic machine: Singer Heavy Duty
Snips from Fiskars
Shot on Sony Alpha zv-e10

Hi! My name is Carly & I’m a self taught creative exploring all things sewing, crochet & textiles! I’m especially excited by secondhand fabrics, using fabric scraps & all things wild, wholesome & delightful. Thank you for being here & if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or shoot me a message. Lots of love.

[felinetherapy]

I don't think many people could make this dress in a day which includes patchworking all the fabric and making a tulle pedicoat (all that gathering!). Looks amazing.

[cerwelt]

I was like you in youth doing things last minute. Today at almost 67 I enjoy tailoring more than simply making. Tailoring takes time and precision. Your exuberance is infectious. I rarely sew these days, but I do crochet, embroider and weave. If I sew it’s for a gift for hubby. I make him a certain short sleeved shirt in fun patterned fabric. I’ve made him a dog shirt, a cat shirt and a chicken in the farmyard patterned shirt. He loves the attention those shirts give him. I need to make him a skunk shirt. He LOVES critters. We have three dogs, six cats, 20 chickens and he rescued a mama skunk and her babies one at a time. He drove them to a shaded place in the country. There is a bridge, trees and water. He actually caught them one at a time in a live trap, the. Drove them to the bridge. It’s about a forty five minute drive. The first skunk was in the back of the pickup. The last four were inside the cab of the pickup. He felt bad they might be scared! The skunks never sprayed him. I call him Noah Doolittle.

My proudest make was a blanket. It was done in entrelac crochet in rainbow colors. I taught myself the type of crocheting and then using whichever color I had in my stash, built it in the round. It’s soooo beautiful and I love looking at it.

As far as sewing makes, I made my daughter a Cinderella styled dress. Her father took her on her first date, just the two of them. It was of turquoise taffeta.

[LudaNYC]

Proudest ever was honestly the first time I managed to make a dress from scratch that was actually wearable. The feeling of accomplishment was like nothing else! 😊

[doubleomidge]

I'm obsessed with the sleeves on your shirt! Do you have a video on that?

[hysteric-and-hysterical]

I wish I wore more dresses! This is so adorable and professional looking! I mostly make rugs but recently I made a fashion corset by hand and it’s made me more interested in hand sewing!

[saranovaa]

I’m 31 and have just begun to teach myself to sew. First sewing machine and everything. I made knit dress that has a lot of imperfections but I’m so happy with it and how it turned out overall 😊👗
This was a fun video to watch, I can’t imagine doing all that in a day! 😅

[SauronsAccntnt]

I love it. The touches of satin, the fluffy sweet tulle petticoat, all of it! Thank you so much for sharing this video!

[wileycovington]

A lot of people have never read Little Women and don't know who Jo March was. I'm excited for this dress.

[shellylemons]

You are a very talented person to be able to explain how to sew a dress so precisely. I love the style.
Tip!! Always allow room for error. Lol

[goodvolksknow]

I swear this was the cuties video/tutorial I've seen. Your description, your grins and giggles are adorable. The dress looked very nice on you.

[timstein]

I love this dress, thanks for explaining how you drafted the bodice. The thing I have made that I am most proud of is a nightshirt I made this year following a vintage 1940s pattern.

[caratoffel]

Wow! That dress is absolutely beautiful! My favourite item I ever made is a little flag with a red panda hanging from a tree branch with 3D-leaves and a lot of small details like the face for my kids at the scouts. I've never done something like this before and it took me a week and a lot of tries to figure it out, but I am so proud of the result!

[briannakyse]

My favourite thing I've ever made was a dirndl-style green checkered dress. It was the third dress I made and it became my favourite thing in my closet.
In regards to your video, the Jo March dress reminded me of a patchwork, multi-shaded orange dress that I loved and wore to shreds when I was 8-10 years old and now I kind of want to make one for my 23-year-old self. Mine had a sash that tied in a big bow, which I imagine would be an easy addition to what you demonstrated. Thank you for another positive video! <3

[TeaCupCracked]

My proudest make ever was taking a dress I already owned and adding an "Edwardian" or "Victorian" (popular with the Gibson Girl look, so sort of in between the two eras) skirt hem. Basically I cut off 4+ inches (made sure it was even, but I forgot how much exactly) And then sewed that entire chunk immediately back onto the newly-cut hem, flipped it up and secured it with one main row of stitching and then another row to make sure it was really "locked" in place. It totally changed how the skirt draped (it's a very thin denim and the old thin hem use to flip up and wrinkle a lot) and made the gathered material up at the waist band hang straighter. The initial goal was just to shorted the hem of the dress to work better for me, but by taking the time to do an unusual hem finish it made the entire piece just sit better on the body.
I'd recommend trying it on medium-light (not light, not medium; that middle zone) solid pieces of fabric or on solid/patchwork lightweight but then in that case cut the hem piece from a solid (or out of big pieced chunks / minimal seams) piece of fabric so that things don't get too complicated (like how the lining of your dress bodice was not patchwork and instead just solid pieces). Then after sewing it on, flipping it over and sewing the top of the hem down to the inside of the dress/skirt (only fold under once since it will be sandwiched), I'd advise giving it a good iron BEFORE doing that top seam to make it really, really flat and smooth and then again afterwards before trying it on to see how/if it bubbles. I've found that sometimes one, two or three extra carefully spaced rows of just a basic top stitch (on the right side) helps secure it, but where those should be seems dependent on how the fabric "reacts" to the weight of the wide hem. The only downside of this method is the hem isn't a twirly / poofy / bouncy, but it gives a lot of "body" and sturdiness to the look instead. I've never tried this on a knit, only wovens, but I found the hem piece can be a lighter material then the skirt/dress fabric, but should NEVER be heavier then the main fabric; either the same weight or lighter. It also should be either the same weave "tightness" or can be "tighter" but the weave shouldn't be looser then the main material of the dress/skirt.

[tricia]

My favorite item, I made, is a flannel bathrobe with princess seams and a shaw collar. So cozy!

[carmenponcedeleon]

Fabulous dress! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!😊❤

[shiyardiagariepy]

Totally impressed you did all that patchwork! I usually take so many days when i make patchwork fabric cause i zigzag the seams too so when I cut it later I don't have pulling seams. Well done!!!

[lonnielove]

I just finished a 3 ft x 3 ft painting for my sister. It's the largest painting I've done so far and she loves it! It took me like 6 months but I finally finished it and I'm very proud of myself!

[maegardnermills]

Absolutely adorable and very comfortable. ❤

[Wildflowerkat]

I loveddd this dress what a dream! I’m completely new to sewing and I’ve only made a little slip for under a dress and it’s not much but I am really proud that I was even able to make it lol so I guess that’s what I’m proudest of so far!