Written by Alyce, founder of Lickity Split.
Lickity Split came to life when I wanted a pair of women's workwear overalls that were cute, felt like me, and also had everything on them that I could possibly want. In this guide, I'm walking you through everything that actually matters in a pair of overalls (or dungarees, depending on where you're from!!!). The features, the fit, and the fabric…. And the styling if you're anything like me.
What makes a great pair of women's gardening overalls?
Not all overalls are created equal! I think we've all been there. A seam right up the clacker when you're trying to tend to a garden bed, or the wriggle, rush and panic when you need to go to the loo, or the dreaded clink you hear knowing that your strap has fallen into the loo as you've panicked and flung them off you with such speed that even The Flash would be impressed! Or the pop of the metal bib and brace clasp after it's finally had enough of the tension between the strap and the seam up your bum! And while I think the one shoulder overall look is a bit cute, it's also just a waiting game to see how long it takes for the other clasp to pop. And then it's not so cute anymore and perhaps a case for public indecency! Hopefully it's just the chooks in the backyard, and not the neighbour peering over the fence.
So, what is it that actually matters? Features, fit & fabric.
The features are the built-in solutions for all the problems that we might face while in our overalls. The fabric is chosen for something breathable enough for Australian summer but tough enough to survive everything we get up to. And the fit means overalls that move the way your body moves when you garden, or DIY, not the way a mannequin stands.
And those things are all brought together by arguably the most important thing, the design. This is where most women's workwear overalls fall short. Often it is menswear resized down, or a bit plain and boxy. Pockets end up in the wrong places, proportions are cut for a different body shape, and colour is treated as optional rather than something that makes you actually want to wear the thing.
Great women's gardening overalls solve all four things at once. Practical enough to survive a real gardening day, and designed properly for a woman's body and life. The best test is simple: could you kneel, reach, crouch, and carry a full load of tools for two hours straight without once thinking about your clothes (except for how cute & practical they are?). If the answer is no, they're not gardening overalls, or workwear overalls, they're just overalls that happen to be near a garden.
The features that actually matter (and why they are in our overalls)
A pocket for knee pad inserts
Kneeling is just part of gardening — weeding, planting, mulching — I find I'm down there more than I'm not. Sore knees do not have to be conducive to a great day out in the garden. Rather than a separate pad that I always forget to take with me, the inserts are built straight into the knees. I keep mine in permanently, so they simply live in the pockets and move throughout the garden with me. I never have to think about it. I even chuck on my overalls now when I'm doing things around the house. Cleaning the grout and doing the baseboards has never been more comfortable!
I'm not the only one who's sold on them, either. Sammy, who reviewed our Peony Patch Dungarees, put it perfectly: "The knee pads proved so useful and I was comfortable all day. I've also used them gardening and they really are the bees knees!" And Vanessa, who bought the Peony Posy, said the removable knee pads were "a game changer" for how much she got done over a weekend. If you've already got a pair and just want the inserts, you can grab them on their own too.
D-ring carabiner
If you've ever set your seccys down 'just for a second' and then lost twenty minutes trying to find them again, this one's for you. Anything I can clip to myself, I will. A big one for me is my keys, I always seem to lose them, and so I clip those straight to the D-ring and there's no extra need for an additional carabiner. Same goes for the secateurs themselves when I'm moving between garden beds — clip them on, and I'm not digging through mulch to find where I put them down. If you find yourself wanting to clip on more than the D-ring can handle, that's exactly what our tool belts are for.
11 pockets!
I've always said that women have been deprived of pockets for far too long (an incredibly interesting read on the history of women's pockets!) and we gardeners certainly need loooots of pockets. The idea is simple, we've got the right pocket for the right thing, so you're not wandering back and forth all the time. Phone? There's a pocket for that. Secateurs? There's a pocket for that. Seed packets, plant labels, pen, note pad, gloves… yup there's a pocket for that. It's great, but it did make me realise all of the ridiculous stuff I seem to pick up and carry on me alllll day.
Kris, who reviewed the Peony Meadow Dungarees, actually picked up on a detail I love that most people miss: "there is extra fabric in the base of the large front pockets, to accommodate snips and secateurs without ripping the fabric." That's not an accident — it's exactly the kind of thing you only know to build in once you've torn a pocket yourself.
Extra long zip
It's the worst having to fiddle with buckles and clips after a long day, so that's part of the reason why we included the zip, and it's extraaaa long. The zip begins below your hips, so it makes it incredibly easy just to zip off and step out. It's an added bonus when you've been doing some extra grubby work.
Velcro at the ankles
Soil, sticks, leaves, bugs, leeeeeches. So many things can find themselves up and in your boots, but by tightening the Velcro at the ankles, it can stop any nasty business getting up your legs and into your boots! The added bonus is also if you're a bit of a shorty (like me) you can tighten the Velcro up over your boots and then viola! They won't be dragging on the ground 😊
Aviva, who's about 5ft tall, told us the same thing after buying the Peony Meadow Dungarees: "I was worried they would be too long as I'm only 5ft but with the Velcro at the ankles, it fits!" Exactly what it's there for.
Stretch where you need it
Gardening can be a full body work out sometimes, kneeling, reaching, bending you name it. But the elastic in the back of the overalls stops the dreaded wedgie!!!
What's the best fabric for gardening overalls in Australia?
This is the bit that people underestimate until they've spent a summer in the wrong fabric. Australian gardening isn't gentle, you've got harsh UV, sudden downpours, and days that swing from cool mornings to stinking hot afternoons, sometimes all before lunch.
We use 100% cotton twill for our overalls, and there's a reason for that combination rather than picking one or the other. Pure cotton breathes beautifully but wears out fast when you're kneeling, crawling and dragging yourself through garden beds all day. Pure synthetic holds up to abrasion but turns into a sauna the second the sun comes out. The blend gives you the breathability you actually need in an Aussie summer, plus the density to survive being dragged across gravel, brushed past roses, and kneeled on in the dirt week after week.
It's also why I'd steer you away from anything marketed as "gardening overalls" that's really just a fashion boilersuit in a nice fabric. It might look the part in a photo, but it won't survive a real gardening day, and it definitely won't survive the wash after one.
Bib and brace overalls Australia: getting the fit right
A bib and brace style (that's the proper name for what most of us just call overalls or dungarees) lives or dies on the fit through the shoulders, chest and hips. Too loose in the bib and it gapes every time you bend forward. Too tight and you'll feel it within the hour.
A few things I'd tell anyone trying to find the right fit:
- Try the kneel test. If you can try them on, kneel down fully. If the crotch pulls or the knees strain, size up.
- Check the strap adjustment. Good straps adjust generously in both directions — you want room to loosen them off over a jumper in winter and tighten them up over a singlet in summer.
- Look at the rise. A too-low rise is exactly how you end up with that seam-up-the-clacker problem I mentioned earlier. You want enough room through the seat to crouch and reach without the fabric fighting you.
- Don't just size up from your normal size. Because these are cut for a woman's body rather than resized menswear, you should be able to go true to your usual size rather than guessing a size up "to be safe."
If you're between sizes, I'd always suggest sizing up in overalls specifically — you can cinch in a loose strap, but you can't add room that isn't there.
Styling your gardening overalls (because you don't have to look like you're hiding from the world)
This is the part I probably get asked about the most, because for a long time "practical" and "cute" felt like they were mutually exclusive in workwear. They're not!
I wear mine with a plain fitted tee or singlet underneath and roll the cuffs up once if I'm working in the warmer months — it keeps them out of the mud and shows a bit of boot. In cooler weather, I'll layer a flannie or a jumper underneath and leave one strap looser (safely, not "one-shoulder-and-praying" loose). A wide-brim hat, my boots, and I genuinely don't feel like I need to change before I duck to the shops afterwards, which was very much the point.
Colour matters here too, more than people expect. A print or a colour you actually love makes you want to reach for your overalls instead of an old pair of trackies when you're heading out to the garden — and the more you wear them, the more you get the benefit of everything above. I've written a bit more on this over on the blog if you want more outfit ideas: The Garden Lover's Guide to Effortless Style.
Are gardening overalls worth it?
Honestly, yes — and not just because I make them. A proper pair of gardening overalls does the job of knee pads, a tool belt, and your work clothes all at once, which means less gear to remember, less laundry from ruined "good" clothes, and fewer trips back inside because you forgot the secateurs. If you're gardening regularly rather than the odd weekend, they pay for themselves in convenience alone.
What's the difference between gardening overalls and regular overalls?
Regular overalls (workwear or fashion) are built for general wear or a specific trade. Gardening overalls need a few specific things on top of that: knee protection for the amount of time you spend kneeling, a place to clip tools so you're not constantly bending and standing, ankle protection from soil and mulch, and a fabric that can be hosed off or thrown in the wash without falling apart. A lot of "overalls" tick the general workwear boxes but miss the gardening-specific ones entirely — which is exactly the gap I built Lickity Split to fill.
Caring for your overalls
Simple care instructions, because nobody wants to babysit their workwear: wash in cold water, turn them inside out first if you can (it protects the print and the stitching), and skip the fabric softener — it breaks down the water resistance in the fabric over time. Air dry where possible. A quick brush-off of dried mud before it goes in the machine will save your washing machine filter a job too.
Final word
At the end of the day, a pair of overalls should disappear the moment you put them on — no digging for tools, no sore knees, no wardrobe malfunctions, just you and the garden. That's what I set out to build with Lickity Split, and it's still exactly what I test every new design against myself, in my own garden, before it goes anywhere near the shop.
If you want to see the fit and fabric I've talked about here in person, have a browse of the full overalls collection — and if you've got questions I haven't covered, they're probably answered on our FAQ page.
