Susanna E. Lewis (1938 – July 15, 2021) was an American fiber artist, teacher and author known for her contributions to the Art to Wear movement.^[1][2]

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]

Lewis' work can be found in the collections of:

• The Philadelphia Museum of Art^[8]
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art^[9]
• The Brooklyn Museum