An avid weaver, Dietz drew upon her experience as a former math teacher to devise a threading pattern based on a cubic binomial expansion.

The fruits of the collaboration included the booklet Algebraic Expressions in Handwoven Textiles and a traveling exhibit which continued throughout the 1950s.

Dietz was a high school biology and math teacher when she met Ruth E. Foster, a professional weaver with the Hewson Studios in Los Angeles.

Foster's work inspired Dietz to begin studying weaving at Wayne University in Detroit under Nellie Sargent Johnson.

It was later when Dietz and Foster were driving north to study at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada that she began using mathematical equations.