diff --git a/pyqtgraph/Qt.py b/pyqtgraph/Qt.py
index 2fcff32f..4fe8c3ab 100644
--- a/pyqtgraph/Qt.py
+++ b/pyqtgraph/Qt.py
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ This module exists to smooth out some of the differences between PySide and PyQt
 
 import sys, re
 
+from .python2_3 import asUnicode
+
 ## Automatically determine whether to use PyQt or PySide. 
 ## This is done by first checking to see whether one of the libraries
 ## is already imported. If not, then attempt to import PyQt4, then PySide.
@@ -56,18 +58,29 @@ if USE_PYSIDE:
     # Credit: 
     # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4442286/python-code-genration-with-pyside-uic/14195313#14195313
 
+    class StringIO(object):
+        """Alternative to built-in StringIO needed to circumvent unicode/ascii issues"""
+        def __init__(self):
+            self.data = []
+        
+        def write(self, data):
+            self.data.append(data)
+            
+        def getvalue(self):
+            return ''.join(map(asUnicode, self.data)).encode('utf8')
+        
     def loadUiType(uiFile):
         """
         Pyside "loadUiType" command like PyQt4 has one, so we have to convert the ui file to py code in-memory first    and then execute it in a special frame to retrieve the form_class.
         """
         import pysideuic
         import xml.etree.ElementTree as xml
-        from io import StringIO
+        #from io import StringIO
         
         parsed = xml.parse(uiFile)
         widget_class = parsed.find('widget').get('class')
         form_class = parsed.find('class').text
-
+        
         with open(uiFile, 'r') as f:
             o = StringIO()
             frame = {}
diff --git a/pyqtgraph/tests/test_qt.py b/pyqtgraph/tests/test_qt.py
index cef54777..729bf695 100644
--- a/pyqtgraph/tests/test_qt.py
+++ b/pyqtgraph/tests/test_qt.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import pyqtgraph as pg
-import gc
+import gc, os
+
+app = pg.mkQApp()
 
 def test_isQObjectAlive():
     o1 = pg.QtCore.QObject()
@@ -8,3 +10,14 @@ def test_isQObjectAlive():
     del o1
     gc.collect()
     assert not pg.Qt.isQObjectAlive(o2)
+
+
+def test_loadUiType():
+    path = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+    formClass, baseClass = pg.Qt.loadUiType(os.path.join(path, 'uictest.ui'))
+    w = baseClass()
+    ui = formClass()
+    ui.setupUi(w)
+    w.show()
+    app.processEvents()
+