diff --git a/drawingDimensioning/previewDimension.py b/drawingDimensioning/previewDimension.py
index 5806f7b..302d345 100644
--- a/drawingDimensioning/previewDimension.py
+++ b/drawingDimensioning/previewDimension.py
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ def initializePreview( dimensioningProcessTracker, dimensionSvgFun, dimensionCli
         preview.SVG =  QtSvg.QGraphicsSvgItem() 
         debugPrint(3, 'creating dimPreview SVG renderer')
         preview.SVGRenderer = QtSvg.QSvgRenderer()
-        preview.SVGRenderer.load( QtCore.QByteArray( '''<svg width="%i" height="%i"> </svg>''' % (drawingVars.width, drawingVars.height) ) ) #without this something goes wrong...
+        qbytestr = '''<svg width="%i" height="%i"> </svg>''' % (drawingVars.width, drawingVars.height)
+        preview.SVGRenderer.load( QtCore.QByteArray( qbytestr.encode('utf-8') ) ) #without this something goes wrong...
         preview.SVG_initialization_width = drawingVars.width
         preview.SVG_initialization_height = drawingVars.height
         preview.SVG.setSharedRenderer( preview.SVGRenderer )
@@ -65,7 +66,8 @@ def initializePreview( dimensioningProcessTracker, dimensionSvgFun, dimensionCli
         preview.SVG.setZValue( 0.09 )
     preview.removedQtItems = False
     debugPrint(4, 'adding SVG')
-    preview.SVGRenderer.load( QtCore.QByteArray( '''<svg width="%i" height="%i"> </svg>''' % (drawingVars.width, drawingVars.height) ) )
+    qbytestr = '''<svg width="%i" height="%i"> </svg>''' % (drawingVars.width, drawingVars.height)
+    preview.SVGRenderer.load( QtCore.QByteArray( qbytestr.encode('utf-8') ) )
     preview.SVG.update()
     #preview.SVG.
     drawingVars.graphicsScene.addItem( preview.SVG )
@@ -153,7 +155,7 @@ def hoverMoveEvent(self, event):
             if isinstance(XML, unicode_type): 
                 XML = encode_if_py2(XML)
             debugPrint(5, XML)
-            preview.SVGRenderer.load( QtCore.QByteArray( XML ) )
+            preview.SVGRenderer.load( QtCore.QByteArray( XML.encode('utf-8') ) )
             preview.SVG.update()
         except:
             App.Console.PrintError(traceback.format_exc())