The two pictures Ric shared clarify the process very well - and the industry hasn't changed much in that regard since the thirties:
The fuselage is framed-up and skinned in one fixture, then moved to wing joining. I am fully confident there is no way you'd move that flimsy skeleton without skinning it, as Ric pointed out already as likely: that shape is dependent on the jig until the skin is substantially 'tacked' on.
What we see on the sawhorses is a continuation of the final assembly phase that happens after the fuselage is joined to the wing - including no doubt nacelles and engines going on, gear, systems installation, etc.
From this it is very clear to me that the fuselage is not skinned on the sawhorses during original construction. We do have pictures showing that Earhart's repairs were done on sawhorses - a natural compromise as a return to the jig with the wing joined is not possible.
And a compromise that leads to all the neck-craning and arm straining I mentioned up-string - it is just no fun drilling out old skins and back-drilling / installing new skins over-head from a sitting position. At least in a lower-situated airplane arrangement where one may work on one's back, one typically gets only a bit of indigestion...
That's not proof that 2-2-V-1 was the product of neck-craning and arm straining, but the point is it does bear some signature of 'repair' including that kind of awkward possibility, to me. Take or leave that - it is merely an impression I have gotten from looking at the piece, including the oddly formed rivet tail that survives (sometimes they are just a bitch in some corner or other...) and I've done many such skin repairs - lying down, sitting, and up on scaffolding, etc. - so take your pick (I'm sure I was likely a 'million rivet' guy by the time I stepped away from that kind of work some years ago), reader's choice.
I wonder what the fonts are in that fuselage jig picture? Wish we could get better resolution on that one, may be one for the catalogue.