diff --git a/libs/gtkmm2ext/gtkmm2ext/utils.h b/libs/gtkmm2ext/gtkmm2ext/utils.h
index 5832c914f6..ab70464ea0 100644
--- a/libs/gtkmm2ext/gtkmm2ext/utils.h
+++ b/libs/gtkmm2ext/gtkmm2ext/utils.h
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ namespace Gtkmm2ext {
 	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API std::string fit_to_pixels (const std::string&, int pixel_width, Pango::FontDescription& font, int& actual_width, bool with_ellipses = false);
 	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API std::pair<std::string, double> fit_to_pixels (cairo_t *, std::string, double);
 	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API int pixel_width (const std::string& str, Pango::FontDescription& font);
+	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API void pixel_size (const std::string& str, Pango::FontDescription& font, int& width, int& height);
 
 	LIBGTKMM2EXT_API void get_ink_pixel_size (Glib::RefPtr<Pango::Layout>, 
 						  int& width, int& height);
diff --git a/libs/gtkmm2ext/utils.cc b/libs/gtkmm2ext/utils.cc
index 03396a4af9..6efa95ac1a 100644
--- a/libs/gtkmm2ext/utils.cc
+++ b/libs/gtkmm2ext/utils.cc
@@ -705,6 +705,18 @@ Gtkmm2ext::pixel_width (const string& str, Pango::FontDescription& font)
 	return width;
 }
 
+void
+Gtkmm2ext::pixel_size (const string& str, Pango::FontDescription& font, int& width, int& height)
+{
+	Gtk::Label foo;
+	Glib::RefPtr<Pango::Layout> layout = foo.create_pango_layout ("");
+
+	layout->set_font_description (font);
+	layout->set_text (str);
+
+	Gtkmm2ext::get_ink_pixel_size (layout, width, height);
+}
+
 #if 0
 string
 Gtkmm2ext::fit_to_pixels (const string& str, int pixel_width, Pango::FontDescription& font, int& actual_width, bool with_ellipses)