diff --git a/powerline/renderers/vim.py b/powerline/renderers/vim.py
index 50586194..28cf0ee4 100644
--- a/powerline/renderers/vim.py
+++ b/powerline/renderers/vim.py
@@ -84,36 +84,33 @@ class VimRenderer(Renderer):
 	def get_segment_info(self, segment_info, mode):
 		return segment_info or self.segment_info
 
-	def render(self, window=None, window_id=None, winnr=None):
+	def render(self, window=None, window_id=None, winnr=None, is_tabline=False):
 		'''Render all segments.'''
 		segment_info = self.segment_info.copy()
-		if window is not None:
-			if window is vim.current.window:
-				mode = vim_mode(1)
-				mode = mode_translations.get(mode, mode)
-			else:
-				mode = 'nc'
-			segment_info.update(
-				window=window,
-				mode=mode,
-				window_id=window_id,
-				winnr=winnr,
-				buffer=window.buffer,
-				tabpage=current_tabpage(),
-			)
-			segment_info['tabnr'] = segment_info['tabpage'].number
-			segment_info['bufnr'] = segment_info['buffer'].number
-			winwidth = segment_info['window'].width
-			matcher_info = segment_info
+
+		if window is vim.current.window:
+			mode = vim_mode(1)
+			mode = mode_translations.get(mode, mode)
 		else:
-			mode = None
-			winwidth = int(vim.eval('&columns'))
-			matcher_info = None
+			mode = 'nc'
+
+		segment_info.update(
+			window=window,
+			mode=mode,
+			window_id=window_id,
+			winnr=winnr,
+			buffer=window.buffer,
+			tabpage=current_tabpage(),
+		)
+		segment_info['tabnr'] = segment_info['tabpage'].number
+		segment_info['bufnr'] = segment_info['buffer'].number
+		winwidth = segment_info['window'].width
+
 		statusline = super(VimRenderer, self).render(
 			mode=mode,
 			width=winwidth,
 			segment_info=segment_info,
-			matcher_info=matcher_info,
+			matcher_info=(None if is_tabline else segment_info),
 		)
 		return statusline
 
diff --git a/powerline/vim.py b/powerline/vim.py
index 0a5fc9f9..ecea537b 100644
--- a/powerline/vim.py
+++ b/powerline/vim.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import sys
 from powerline.bindings.vim import vim_get_func, vim_getvar
-from powerline import Powerline
+from powerline import Powerline, FailedUnicode
 from powerline.lib import mergedicts
 import vim
 from itertools import count
@@ -228,15 +228,14 @@ class VimPowerline(Powerline):
 	def statusline(self, window_id):
 		window, window_id, winnr = self.win_idx(window_id) or (None, None, None)
 		if not window:
-			return 'No window {0}'.format(window_id)
+			return FailedUnicode('No window {0}'.format(window_id))
 		return self.render(window, window_id, winnr)
 
 	def tabline(self):
-		return self.render()
+		return self.render(*self.win_idx(None), is_tabline=True)
 
 	def new_window(self):
-		window, window_id, winnr = self.win_idx(None)
-		return self.render(window, window_id, winnr)
+		return self.render(*self.win_idx(None))
 
 	if not hasattr(vim, 'bindeval'):
 		# Method for PowerlinePyeval function. Is here to reduce the number of 
diff --git a/tests/test_provided_config_files.py b/tests/test_provided_config_files.py
index 3bd41d94..27698cde 100644
--- a/tests/test_provided_config_files.py
+++ b/tests/test_provided_config_files.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class TestConfig(TestCase):
 					outputs[out] = (i, (args, kwargs), mode)
 
 				with vim_module._with('bufname', '/tmp/foo.txt'):
-					out = powerline.render()
+					out = powerline.render(vim_module.current.window, 1, vim_module.current.window.number, is_tabline=True)
 					outputs[out] = (-1, (None, None), 'tab')
 					with vim_module._with('globals', powerline_config_path=cfg_path):
 						exclude = set(('no', 'v', 'V', VBLOCK, 's', 'S', SBLOCK, 'R', 'Rv', 'c', 'cv', 'ce', 'r', 'rm', 'r?', '!'))