Morse Code Necktie. In 1844, a famous portrait painter named Samuel Morse ended his 12-year toil to perfect the electric telegraph, and the alphabet he designed for it - a series of dits and dahs used to spell out messages over cables to a receiver. It wasn't long before it became the standard way to send messages over a long distance, and the code is still in use internationally. • Fabric: Silky-soft microfiber.