My Mom went and got what the vacuum cleaner servicemen use to take the smell out of vacuums. It worked on her featherweight box. Hope this helps.

Unscented kitty litter--the cheap kind. Put it in a container and inside the box. Shake it from time to time to expose a different surface. If you don't have a kitty to use the rest of the bag, put it in your car in case you find a slick spot this winter! Makes for better traction. The manuals may do ok, if simply taken out and left to room air. Flip the pages occasionally.

With closed up things (like a refrigerator) we crumple up newspaper and put it and a tray of charcoal on a lower shelf. The combo of charcoal and newspaper seem to work the best. In one very old garage fridge my brother was using for beverages and 'forgotten' food items, I replaced the paper a couple times and within a week, it was like new.

I knew about charcoal but not the newspaper part, I shall note it dow :- ) I have heard of people buying heaps of those tiny silica desiccant bags, but after the initial cleaning and airing out job. A proffesional solution could be a form of ozone treatment, I know it's used to remove smells in cars and furniture, even entire houses.

What is kitty litter sand made of? Some of it looks like "puffed" clay (heat treated). The kind forming lumps might be something else. Either way, all the smelly cases and cabinets I have had improved vastly after a thorough cleaning, and all the other tricks came as a second step. We should all have better storage spaces

I have several Featherweight cases that smelled rather badly. The first thing I did was wash the inside with soap and water and dry thoroughly. I put coffee beans in the box and closed it. When summer comes and the boxes still have the musty odor, I put baking soda in a container and put that into box and close it up. Then I put it in my car on very hot summer days. If cleaning it with soap and water and putting the coffee beans in them didn't work, then the heat of the car does the job.

What causes the smell is mold and the heat kills the mold and destroys the smell.

Thanks, I will take the machine out and start on the case. This looks like a really nice machine. It's an old Montgomery Ward jewel 21 zig-zag. I assume it's an advance on the singer 15, as the bobbin looks like a 15 bobbin. It's turquoise and the finish is pristine. It has the cams, manual and some extra feet.

It looks like I'm not going to get to retire until the summer, so I have plenty of time to try different methods.

bkay

I know this was an older post, but a lot of people seem to have this problem. I have two ways of addressing the odor. The first is to remove and replace the soft pad in the bottom of the case -- if yours has one. The other is to place a new, unwrapped bar of soap on the case with the machine when it is closed up.

I should note down these tricks, it might come handy some day. After cleaning my machiens and boxes have generally aired out on their own. The latest trick are some bamboo charcoal bags, much larger than a teabags, more like a a pint or two. They are reported to be very efficient. These bags needs to be replaced though, much like baking soda.

Wow. What a great variety of fixes!
I had a case that smelled awful too. I tried the bar of soap first, and after a week or so, it still smelled musty-but with a fresh spring scent. I tried baking soda. I tried vinegar. I even tried charcoal odor eaters for shoes. (They actually worked). but the smell was still there a little. I never did try kitty litter.
What worked the best for me, was setting the case outside in the sunshine. I left it out there for hours...moving it with the sun, so that the UV light was always on it. At the end of the day, all the odor was completely gone. It still smells fine now, about 2 years later.

If I may add my two cents... if the manuals or books smell moldy, try and put them overnight in the freezer... I tried it on old books bought at garage sales and it worked wonders.