Noble girl-child hat?

[LadyFae]

If you please, what would a Noble girl-child wear on her head? I have finished my three daughters noble gowns and am curious about headwear. They do look like miniature adults in their gowns but they are children- 2, 4, and 6. Do I make their hair pretty with braids and ribbon or do I find/make hats for them? If so, what styles? Please and thank you for any helpful advise!

[gem]

What kind of noble--what period/era? Little girls wore different things in different places and times.

Here's a young Italian girl (Bia de Medici, not *technically* noble, but pretty much as close as you can get). Granted, it was not typical for girls to have such short hair (and people have posited differing reasons for why Bia's hair is so short in this portrait, including illness, etc)--but you can also see that it's plenty long enough to be pinned up if they'd wanted to for the portrait. So it must not have been *that* shocking or unusual.



Here are two Dutch sisters. One is bare-headed, and the infant wears possibly the cutest headpiece in history:



And here's a young Princess Elizabeth in her signature French hood.

***
So, history aside, let's talk practicality:
1.) How long will it take you to do all those braids AND get everyone dressed on Fair mornings? Hats are EASY.
2.) Will your daughters keep their hats on? Most people aren't accustomed to wearing hats on a daily basis, and find them odd/uncomfortable. How many little kids have you seen lose their stocking caps in winter?

What about a compromise--an easy hairstyle plus a circlet/tiara? Or a French-hood-like headband with jewels, but no heavy veil, etc? Sort of, you know, training hats. LOL And you know what else is super-easy? Snoods.

Good luck!

[operafantomet]

I would definitely call Bianca "Bia" de' Medici a noble girl. She was the illegitimate daughter of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, but fully acknowledged by him, and grew up at the Medici court. She wears her father's portrait (gold medallion) around her neck, and would have been married off within the nobility had she not died by a violent fever only six years old.

A good solution could be to buy false hair, and make braided or taped "rings" to put on the crown of the head of your daughter. It can be pinned in place, and the real hair combed and attached in the back, under the "ring". Something like this:


You can of course also make this hairdo if your daughter has long enough hair! It's fairly easy to do, and you can use the ends of the tape (whether you braid it into the hair, or twist around the "rolls" of hair) to tie the ends together. But using fake hair can save some time. A good step-by-step picture guide for the hair taped for a Norwegian folk costume can be found in the link underneath. You decide how dense or tight you want the flat ribbon to be. you can also use narrower ribbon in an X pattern (as the little girl overneath):
http://www.bunad-magasinet.no/haarvipping-paa-telemarksvis.4472761-103162.html


Silly hairdos are also period, like this charming closeup of Isabella Colonna :lol: :



You can also use a plain linen cap for the youngest ones:

[Mademoiselle D]

For the children who come out and perform as a part of court at Bristol there's a few different hats that they wear.  I've just inserted hyperlinks so hopefully they work.

Here's the french hoods that most of the maids of honor wear. 
http://www.fairephotography.com/RenFaire.2011.Week6/large-8.html

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10150317683600056&set=a.10150317674680056.387342.641765055&type=1&theater


There's also a pillbox hat that one of the youngest children wear and she's 4 years old.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10150317683545056&set=a.10150317674680056.387342.641765055&type=1&theater


And then lastly there's my favorite which is a riding hat style.
http://www.fairephotography.com/RenFaire.2011.Week4/large-15.html



So there's a number of options and I hope that helps.

[LadyFae]

Grr! I wish I could post pics from my phone! The two older girls have gowns very similar to the one I wear in my avitar. The 4 year old has EXTREMEMLY long and thick hair, it is down to her mid butt. The 6 year old has layers and the length is down just past mid back. Thank you all for the pictures/links! I haven't made any hats before so I am leaning towards "cute" hair- simple, though. I LOVE the Norwegian hair braid/taping idea so I may practice that.

[isabelladangelo]

This is later (and I'm mainly posting it because I think the little boy in it is adorable) but I do like the simple coif like headdress with a bit of standing lace on the girls.
http://www.yourvintagewedding.com/sites/RobinsonStacy0/_files/image/Elizabethan/renchildren.jpg


http://www.elizabethan-portraits.com/ArabellaStewart.jpg  < If you go with a hat option -rather than a braid or updo- I'd do something like this.  It's a simple coif (they could be embroidered but it looks like kids' coifs were left plain) and a nice bit of a headdress decoration.  I'd be tempted to just do the coif (they are ridiculously simple to make) and put the kids hair up in simple buns or braids.