I would love the 'bolted' one; however, the top one is pretty straight forward with being able to at least seeing the color. You have to decide if you can live witht he fabric by looking at the outside strip. I agree that you might be able to fudge some of the strips out... But if there is a display with the fabric there, you can see what you are going to get. Personally, I love jelly rolls and honey buns. Regardless of what I am making, I know the fabric will go together. I have mostly been working in batiks so that isn't a problem any more. Solids are the same as working with batiks. Just color and value...