Great question Edie–I’m sure others have confronted the same dilemma when working with historic textiles. And thank you Helena your advice. Ideally rugs should be stored flat or rolled. Here is some quick information from the Textile Museum in Washington DC about how to do so http://www.textilemuseum.org/care/brochures/storing.htm. If you must fold a rug, you should use padding; here are some instructions http://www.netnebraska.org/extras/treasures/pdfs/Folding%20Textiles.pdf
