Think and Swim : Ellen Marie Camacho gets inspiration from clothes, then turns those ideas into suits for women and kids. The thought process works.

As swimsuit weather beckons, Huntington Beach designer Ellen Marie Camacho’s telephone seems to ring contantly. A sales representative from the California Mart in Los Angeles wants to see her toddler suits. A staffer from KTTV’s “Good Day L.A.” requests a couple of her women’s velvet maillots for an upcoming segment. A retailer asks for both lines.

Those are the welcome calls. Businesswoman Ellen Marie Camacho also has to contend with the less glamorous aspects of running a fashion company, even if hers is still a tiny label (called Ellen Marie) that she manages from the apartment she shares with her husband, Ron, and 21-month-old daughter, Angelique.

Calls come from suppliers who renege on promises to deliver pink elastic trim and a sewing contractor who needs more time to fulfill an order.

Popping in a tape of “Snow White” for Angelique, the mom/designer/company owner settles into a white couch in her living room.

“It’s been so crazy lately,” she says, letting out a sigh of relief.

But Camacho, 33, has cherished every second of the craziness she’s experienced since she realized that she wanted to become a designer a decade ago. Swimwear wasn’t even in the cards then, though she worked with Lycra stretch fabrics while studying fashion at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

A job at a downtown Huntington Beach bikini shop after high school gave her daily insight into the joys and misery customers underwent finding the perfect suit. But it was an internship at Maximum Exposure, a body and swimwear company, after graduation from OCC in 1989, followed by a job at another swim line, Berzon, that cultivated her label.

“To say I know what women and girls like is an understatement,” Camacho says.

While her women’s line--launched in spring ‘94--is designed for fit females, she incorporates intricate design lines and seams to minimize minor flaws. Skinny satin cords, ornate trim, top-stitching and other novelty details camouflage flaws while also turning “a simple garment into something extravagant”--a strength that hasn’t gone unnoticed among retailers and consumers.

Ellen Marie’s corseted bodies or strategically cutout tops in heavy Lycra or sumptuous velvet lend themselves to more than poolside use. Paired with jeans or a skirt, they can be worn to the margarita bar or a sunset party.

Camacho admits that many of her swimsuit designs are inspired by clothing.

“I can see an outfit, like an evening dress, and visualize a swimsuit,” she says.

This season’s collection includes a few sportswear pieces: meticulously tailored tops; a dress in powder blue, lightweight denim; a tiny skirt and short shorts in denim or velvet, and a flowing long skirt and flirty dress cut from crisp, white gauze.

The swim and sportswear collection ($85 to $150) is available at Diane’s Swimwear (Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Long Beach) and Wacko’s on Melrose.

Camacho also turns to children’s fashions for ideas for her collection of distinctly girlish toddler swimwear that has ruffles and bows in bright pink and purple ($20 to $24). The impending birth of Angelique prompted Mom to start the line in late 1993 and now serves as a model. Friend Sue Marie Martin is Camacho’s financial partner in the toddler line, which is available at Nordstrom.