The Gentle Art · Family Business Since 1989

Our Passion

A family business, going since 1989.

Nancy Pfeifer founded The Gentle Art in 1989 on a shoestring, after spending years working at a needlework shop where she learned the finer points of counted thread, framing, and fabrics. She’d loved needlework since childhood — her mother taught her to knit, crochet, cross stitch, and sew — and she had a clear vision for a thread that didn’t yet exist.

The Gentle Art was one of the first companies to bring hand-overdyed threads to the stitching world, at a time when most floss was plain and uniform. In those early years we even put out a needlework newspaper — original designs, articles, and a little community all its own.

What started as a shoestring family operation has grown into something we’re genuinely proud of. Nancy’s son Jim and his wife Kristi now manage the day-to-day, while Nancy and her husband Bill stay on as consultants.

Now the third generation is coming up. Jim and Kristi’s son Jake and his girlfriend Brittany are learning the ropes — getting to know the business from the ground up. The same family that started this thing in 1989 is still the one keeping it going.