Limited Run 1979 ALIEN - USCSS NOSTROMO - PATCH REPLICA

[NostromoCrew]

Intro
...So as part of my 1979 ALIEN - NOSTROMO CREW UNIFORM - Accurate Reproduction project run, I decided to try my hand at replicating the crew shoulder patch. And as anyone who is involved enough in the intricacies of this patch, knows that many have tried, some have come close. I have spent the past few months obsessing over every detail of these costumes and decided that if I was going to try and replicate the shoulder patch, it had to be very, (very) accurate. Getting close was just not going to cut it in this case, so it was pretty much all or nothing.

If I wasn't 99.95% happy with the result, I would not have moved forward with this. All of the details of this patch had to come together. The design, colors, fonts, proportions, design features and even some "imperfections" that were a signature of the way patches were made back in the day.

A few photos of original production made patches:

REPRODUCTION

Shape
The correct 'half oval’ in accordance with the original. Meaning that the extreme left and right borders of the patch are not straight. They are bent in a slight oval shape.

Exaggerated for illustrative purposes.

Variants
Light background - Faded Grey/Blue
Dark background - Very dark navy blue

Color Pallet
Here I owe a huge thank you to my buddy IkeOffworld for taking the time to analyze all of the photos of the verified original patches we have, all of which were taken at different times, under different lighting conditions, using different cameras, with verifying resolution… he took all of that info and managed to come up with a pretty impressively close color pallet for these patches.

Stitch Direction and Style
Extreme attention was given to mimicking the stitch direction of the original. This was crazy hard and took literally weeks of revisions, going through different manufacturers until I landed one that had the right machinery that could deliver the right detail.

Thickness/Backing - The originals were fairly thin, cloth like. I opted to have mine made as sew-on with no extra backing. The Iron-on layer thickens the patch and makes it too rigid in my opinion.

Overall patch size - 10.5cm X 7.5cm or 4.13” X 3”


Photos of the final product:

Additional Photos of Production made Patches:

These patches will be a part of my larger project run and are also available for purchase as of right now on my website:

Nostromocrew.com​

Thank you!

 

[ID10T]

OUTSTANDING!

 

[starbuc]

I have been tempted over the last 30+ years to buy one of several different Nostromo patches that have been available by several different makers, but I have never found one that was close enough to the original to spend my money on.
Until now.
I just placed on order for one of your amazing patches.
Thanks for making them and taking the time to make them perfect!

 

[NostromoCrew]

I have been tempted over the last 30+ years to buy one of several different Nostromo patches that have been available by several different makers, but I have never found one that was close enough to the original to spend my money on.
Until now.
I just placed on order for one of your amazing patches.
Thanks for making them and taking the time to make them perfect!

Thank you starbuc !

I know what you mean, there are plenty of mediocre patches and a few that are pretty good, but not one that encompasses all of those correct elements together in one patch...frustrated me too... BTW this run nearly didn't happen at all since after the third printer I approached produced very poor results, I was ready to give up. Thinking that maybe the way they made these back in 1978 is gone from the world. Because thinking about it, every embroidery printer/manufacturer nowadays is digital. Nathan and Berman's made these in 1978 PRE-COMPUTERS, All analog.
Pretty awesome.

 

[mgoob]

Will the silver/ gold wings come w/ the shirt?

 

[NostromoCrew]

Will the silver/ gold wings come w/ the shirt?

Yes. Everyone will basically have 3 options to choose from, Gold/Silver/Blue.

 

[IkeOffworld]

Thanks for allowing me to be part of such an awesome project! I'm really proud of how the patches came out! The hours we poured into every minute detail really made for some crazy good patches. Exciting times for us Alien fans!

 

[septic]

... 3 options to choose from, Gold/Silver/Blue.

Those blue wings are reeel preeety!

Sorry for the tangent, but any chance of red thread wings on black? I suspect only one person would be interested [me! ]
Wings are seen on Dallas & Ash's green surgical gowns (med bay scene).

Pic added for scale

 

[NostromoCrew]

Those blue wings are reeel preeety!

Sorry for the tangent, but any chance of red thread wings on black? I suspect only one person would be interested [me! ]
Wings are seen on Dallas & Ash's green surgical gowns (med bay scene).

Pic added for scale

Hmm let me see if I can work something out for you on that. I'm not sure if a run of those are in order, depending on how much interest there might be in those..

 

[Chronos]

Outstanding work!

 

[mgoob]

Thanks

Yes. Everyone will basically have 3 options to choose from, Gold/Silver/Blue.
View attachment 1487399

 

[Mechanized]

Placed an order for a patch and a couple of shirt labels

 

[IkeOffworld]

Hey guys, it came to our attention that the blue on our dark patches is a tint too light, BUT do not fret! I figured out the perfect solution when I remembered a trick for darkening car upholstery stitching using Sharpie markers. What you want to do is use a blue sharpie marker, and just gently touch it to the embroidery. The ink will seep in quickly and perform an instant dye job. Work slowly to get an even dye. Here are my results with our patches. I can hardly tell them apart from auction photos.

 

[mgoob]

Hey guys, it came to our attention that the blue on our dark patches is a tint too light, BUT do not fret! I figured out the perfect solution when I remembered a trick for darkening car upholstery stitching using Sharpie markers. What you want to do is use a blue sharpie marker, and just gently touch it to the embroidery. The ink will seep in quickly and perform an instant dye job. Work slowly to get an even dye. Here are my results with our patches. I can hardly tell them apart from auction photos.

I was just looking at my various Nostromo patches, primarily comparing this patch & the ones from Indy Magnoli.

I'm glad to see that the color was noticed, and there is some sort of solution.
I'll get a pen this week and post a photo once I do.

Question: Will the next run of patches have the correct color?

 

[NostromoCrew]

I was just looking at my various Nostromo patches, primarily comparing this patch & the ones from Indy Magnoli.

I'm glad to see that the color was noticed, and there is some sort of solution.
I'll get a pen this week and post a photo once I do.

Question: Will the next run of patches have the correct color?

Yes

 

[mgoob]

Yes

Super!

 

[Mechanized]

Just want to say thank for my patches. Very cool item and was excited to get some time and sew them onto a couple items.

I’ll probably re-do the hat patch. Also still haven’t decided what to put the light background patch on. Please excuse my horrible hand stitching. Anyways, onto the pictures

Thank you very much once more. Great patches and highly recommended.