Needle-Felted Wool Sculpture

Louisa May Alcott's Jo March Needle-Felted Wool Sculpture

Written and Posted by Sarah
My "Jo March" Wool Sculpture was inspired by June Allyson's 1949 portrayal of Jo in the MGM classic movie, "Little Women".

Jo's dress features the well-known patch and a long row of felted "buttons" down the back. Her coral-colored apron has a pocket that's just the right size to hold her monogrammed hankie. She's wearing brown boots and white bloomers. Her matching coral-colored socks proudly display a "wheat sheaf" design which has been felted to look like embroidery. Her white petticoat has been stiffened (during the felting) with wire, like an old-fashioned hoop skirt. This wire cannot be seen, since it has been felted into the wool petticoat. All of Jo's clothes are permanently attached but give the appearance of separate pieces. In Jo's clasped hands is a paper "manuscript", like the one which she sends to her friend (ours are blank pages, not to be opened).

She is made of 100% Merino roving that was felted with .40 and .42 gauge felting needles. It took approximately 56 hours of work, spread out over a period of two months, to make her. The hair took a bit of work. I really wanted to use the hair-do that Scarlett wears in Gone with the Wind during the Christmas scene when Ashley has to rejoin his regiment. I made that one first, and it looked just like it --- the only problem was that it didn't lend itself to the lighter colored hair, and it didn't look like Little Women. It looked like Gone With the Wind! Changing the hair made it look just like something from a Louisa May Alcott story.