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Introduction

About Morse Code

Morse code was created in the early 1800s as a method of transmitting information across telegraph wires. Long before the days of the U.S. Postal Service, fax machines, email, and social media, individuals and government leaders needed a fast, reliable way to exchange information across great distances.

As scientists discovered that electrical current could be stored in battery form and that electrical current could be disrupted with magnets, they began experimenting with how that knowledge could be used to create a communication system. Researchers on both sides of the Atlantic are credited with important contributions to the creation of the telegraph system and the resulting code that allowed for communication. Americans Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail developed a code based on a series of dots (short pulses) and dashes (longer pulses) that telegraph operators memorized so they could quickly transcribe letters as the communication was received.

Samuel Morse

Alfred Vail

Decoding the Code

Morse code is a series of dots and dashes that represent each letter of the alphabet and each number. When converting Morse code to a "quilt code," the dots, dashes, spaces between units within a letter, and space between words, all contribute to the size of a word or phrase. The following illustration shows how each unit is counted. At this point, you will be calculating units, not measurements. (Actual Morse code for communication has slightly different spacing requirements than what I use for fabric messages. My conventions prevent the design from becoming an unmanageable width.)

The dot is 1 unit.

A dash is 2 units, or two times the dot measurement.

The space between parts in a letter is half a unit.

The spaces between letters in a word is one and a half units The illustration below is the word “sew.”

The space between words in a single row is equal to 3 units. The illustration below spells out “sew it.”

When I design a quilt, I start by choosing my phrase. I write out the words on paper and determine how many units of space each word requires. For example, the word "Love" looks like the illustration below, in Morse code. The charts I've provided on here give you the unit counts for numbers, letters, and months.

Next, you'll add the letter spacers, (3) 1.5 units, and that brings the unit count to 25.5 units. Below, the word "Love" is illustrated in "quilt code" dot/dash units.

Now a measurement has to be assigned to the unit.

Once I have my unit count, I decide how big I want my quilt to be. For instance, the Love You More quilt, finishes at 42" by 50". I need to assign sizes to the phrase units to work within the width of 42". You may have to experiment with several unit measurements to see what fills the width of your quilt. Remember that the longest word will probably determine the width of your quilt.

If I used 1" for finished dot size, then 25.5 units times 1" equals 25½". This is not enough to fill the 42" width of my quilt.

If I used 2" for a finished unit size, then 25.5 units times 2" equals 51". This is too big for the width.

Using 1½" for my finished unit size worked perfectly with a little room to add fabric at the ends of the rows. 25.5 units times 1½" equals 38½".

Morse Code Number Chart

Morse Code Letter Chart A–M

Morse Code Letter Chart N–Z

Morse Code Month Charts

I've translated each month into code for easy reference if you need a month spelled out. The count starts with the first unit and ends with the last. If a month is followed by another name, or year, the unit space will equal three times the dot unit measurement. Remember, this is only a unit count. Apply your dot/dash/spacers, referring to here.