The Viral "Outfitkini"

The story and the how-to behind the two-in-one summer staple

Jul 07, 2024

Yesterday on Twitter, I posted an outfit that I sewed—a bikini that is modest enough to double as a bike shorts set—which I’m calling the “outfitkini.” I was really surprised at how many people said they wanted to buy one or make one themselves:

So anyway, here’s the origin story and the how-to, for free!

The Origin

I’m a mom of two very little kids. I take them to a splash pad pretty often. Most of the other parents don’t get wet at all—they send their kids to play and sit on the nearby benches to offer cheers and claps. But because my younger child is still a baby, I can’t exactly send her off to splash around by herself. My older child could go by himself, but he prefers being carried. And well, my husband can’t exactly carry both of them. So we defaulted to my husband taking our older child to the water while I took the baby.

I found myself in a bit of a predicament. Normally, the splash pad coincided with lunch at a nice outdoor restaurant. Of course, my husband would say the classic man line: “Just wear what you’re wearing now.” By that he meant: wear a bathing suit, get it soaking wet, then throw some shorts and a T-shirt on over it, and go to the cute dining patio looking like a giant 9-year-old at day camp with mild crow’s feet. Come on! Anyone who enjoys fashion knows that a makeshift “costume change” into casual clothes is a wasted opportunity of a cute al fresco lunch.

I kept trying to come up with an hack for this situation. Perhaps I’d change in the bathroom, and bring a nice outfit in a tote bag which I’d store in the stroller. That felt inconvenient, and besides, I’d still have to show up at the restaurant in a soaking swimsuit and traipse through to the bathroom like that. Eventually I settled on wearing cute, girly activewear to the splash pad. It was stylish and more practical than a complicated changing routine, but still got pretty wet and didn’t dry easily.

In case you’re curious, that outfit is the Popflex ruffle bra in buttercream and matching shorts. I also tried the Popflex tiebreaker dress. But I kept thinking—I just wish I had something that was actually made out of swimsuit material, but appropriate enough to wear to the splash pad and the restaurant. Something not just practical, but actually pretty. Because let’s be real: if being practical was all I cared about, I could easily find a modest swimsuit like this:

And of course- no shade to modest or religious ladies who would enjoy such a swimsuit- but the only concern I had about modesty was “needs to be appropriate to wear to an outdoor restaurant.” I didn’t have a specific concern about not showing my body, just that it’s reasonable not to want to wear a modern trendy bikini (which usually shows a decent amount of ass cheek) to an outdoor restaurant.

I thought about an image that had been on the back of my mind for a while, specifically this image of women in the late 1950s wearing hot pants style outfits:

This image lived rent-free in my mind, especially the diamond pattern hot pants closest to the camera. I loved the rise, the waist-accentuating shape, the fact that they were sexy without being over-the-top. And I’d been sewing for a while—why hadn’t I just made these?

I still had some gingham-print swimsuit fabric lying around from when I made a swimsuit for my older child (note: we actually don’t use this swimsuit anymore, since I discovered blue/green swimsuits on kids is a drowning hazard- I know that sounds psycho but it’s true!) so I used that fabric for myself. And thus, the Outfitkini was born!

The How-To

So first of all, I used an Etsy pattern for this. The pattern was (I think) intended for activewear, and it was my idea to use it for a swimsuit. So while this is partially my “idea” I don’t want to take full credit as the patterns were drafted by someone else. And perhaps that person also had swimwear in mind, I don’t know. So the best I can do is direct people to buy her patterns!

The shorts
- I edited this pattern a bit- the initial inseam was really short for what I wanted (I wanted more of a classic bike shorts inseam) so I added a few inches and then also added a cuff around the bottom of the shorts. This pattern also doesn’t include an elastic waist. Neither did my outfitkini, but I’ve since used this pattern for regular high-waisted dress shorts and added a thick elastic waistband. I’ll post that outfit soon because I’m absolutely in love with it. Have fun with this pattern, it’s so easy to sew!
The top
- I didn’t really alter the top, except that I shortened the straps. I feel like there’s a lot of potential to add embellishments though- potentially ruffles at the straps or an embellishment at the bust, like a cute bow or flower trim.
The fabric is no longer available on Etsy, but I found this similar listing. Generally any swimsuit fabric will do.
As for the stitching, I don’t have a serger- it would be a much sturdier piece if I did, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. I used a zigzag stitch on my regular sewing machine. I understand this means I might pop a stitch at some point and will need to fix it; it’s fine. Maybe I’ll get a serger at some point, but right now I’m too intimidated.

Is this about modesty?

Not at all; if you follow my Twitter and see my outfits you’ll notice that I actually dress a bit less modestly than your average 35-year-old mom. And as far as regular non-swim outfits go, the Outfitkini is actually pretty revealing. I have no problem showing skin; what I hate it having to do costume changes and having to plan my day around getting wet. However, if you do prefer modest swimwear, the Outfitkini could be good just as a swimsuit.

Why aren’t you just selling these?

As much as I would love to wave a magic wand and start my own Outfitkini business, there are a few considerations:

I didn’t create the original patterns! I don’t want to profit off someone else’s work unless they’re OK with it, and it’s not clear if that Etsy seller wants me to do that. So for now, if you know how to sew, visit her store!
Assuming there was no issue with legality or ethics, and my pattern was different enough that I could profit off of it, I’m a working mom of two kids, and if anything my biggest side hustle is my writing (this substack and a book, which I’ll hopefully get published soon.) So unless I was able to basically outsource all the work, this would be borderline impossible.
Assuming the prior two conditions were met, given how long it takes me to sew these (I’m not a professional and don’t have access to professional equipment) I’d probably have to charge more than anyone wanted to pay.

I will say, however, that learning to sew is easier than you think if you have the time. I learned off YouTube tutorials! So give it a try!