The daughter of an Army Air Forces officer,[3] Lewis received a BA from University of Michigan and an MA from the Teachers College of Columbia University. She later attended the Pratt Institute.[4]
Lewis was active in Art to Wear movement in the 1970s and 1980s. Inspired by Mary Walker Phillips she bought a knitting machine (the Passap Duomatic 5) in 1971[5] and taught herself, beginning to create hangings and garments in the late 1970s. She is known for her highly decorated textile wearable pieces, a direction she was encouraged to take by Julie Schafler Dale, her gallerist.[3][4] For instance, the Moth Cape represented a nightmare, "wherein a feeling of death enveloped her like the wings of a giant moth".[1] The weight and shape of the piece meant the wearer could share that experience.
Lewis was also an author of knitting books, and contributor to knitting magazines,[6] including A Machine Knitter’s Guide To Creating Fabrics (with Julia Weissman), considered foundational to the craft,[2] and Knitting lace. She taught at Parsons School of Design about machine knitting in the 1980s.[7]
