diff --git a/libguile/struct.c b/libguile/struct.c
index 000626fa3..288ad84c7 100644
--- a/libguile/struct.c
+++ b/libguile/struct.c
@@ -339,7 +339,11 @@ scm_i_alloc_struct (scm_t_bits vtable_bits, int n_words)
 {
   SCM ret;
 
-  ret = scm_words (vtable_bits | scm_tc3_struct, n_words + 1);
+  struct scm_struct *s =
+    scm_allocate_tagged (SCM_I_CURRENT_THREAD,
+                         sizeof (*s) + n_words * sizeof (SCM));
+  s->tagged_vtable = vtable_bits | scm_tc3_struct;
+  ret = scm_from_struct (s);
 
   /* vtable_bits can be 0 when making a vtable vtable */
   if (vtable_bits && SCM_VTABLE_INSTANCE_FINALIZER (SCM_PACK (vtable_bits)))
@@ -444,24 +448,24 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_make_struct_simple, "make-struct/simple", 1, 0, 1,
             "use @code{make-struct/no-tail}.")
 #define FUNC_NAME s_scm_make_struct_simple
 {
-  long i, n_init;
-  SCM ret;
-
   SCM_VALIDATE_VTABLE (1, vtable);
-  n_init = scm_ilength (init);
+  long n_init = scm_ilength (init);
   if (n_init != SCM_VTABLE_SIZE (vtable))
     SCM_MISC_ERROR ("Wrong number of initializers.", SCM_EOL);
 
-  ret = scm_words (SCM_UNPACK (vtable) | scm_tc3_struct, n_init + 1);
+  struct scm_struct *s =
+    scm_allocate_tagged (SCM_I_CURRENT_THREAD,
+                         sizeof (*s) + n_init * sizeof (SCM));
+  s->tagged_vtable = SCM_UNPACK (vtable) | scm_tc3_struct;
 
-  for (i = 0; i < n_init; i++, init = scm_cdr (init))
+  for (long i = 0; i < n_init; i++, init = scm_cdr (init))
     {
       SCM_ASSERT (!SCM_VTABLE_FIELD_IS_UNBOXED (vtable, i),
                   vtable, 1, FUNC_NAME);
-      SCM_STRUCT_SLOT_SET (ret, i, scm_car (init));
+      scm_i_struct_set_scm (s, i, scm_car (init));
     }
 
-  return ret;
+  return scm_from_struct (s);
 }
 #undef FUNC_NAME