Q. We have an Oriental rug that has been in my husband’s family for more than 100 years. We are moving and don’t want to take it with us. It is in bad shape in the center but not worn in areas that have been under furniture. I have read that Oriental rugs can be repaired by filling holes with plugs cut from other rugs. Is there a repair service that would like our rug?

A. Although some companies that specialize in repairing Oriental carpets limit their work to reweaving, others offer patching as a more affordable option. For example, there are three Washington, D.C.-area companies that are happy to get donations of partially worn carpets to use as patch material.

For valuable rugs, however, repairs are best made by reweaving. Patches greatly reduce the value of these rugs; skillful repairs via reweaving take less of a toll.

You might want to consider keeping a piece of the rug by having it refashioned into an area rug, a pillow, or upholstery for a footrest or chair. The cost of this varies with the project, the type of rug and whether it needs to be cleaned to make it flexible enough to work with.

One area company would charge $75 to $200 for a 12-inch-square pillow made from your old rug.

For something that’s been part of your family history for more than a century, that might be a small price to pay.