Hi bandljames,

Thanks for your message. This is our design. You certainly can choose to stitch it on black fabric instead of stitching in the black background stitches.

It is very easy to see on this pattern where the black background stitches are.

Please let me know if you have any further queries.

Thanks and Best Wishes
Tereena Clarke
Artecy Cross Stitch

If I was doing this pattern I would definitely use black Aida fabric just from the sheer fact of not having to do all the black background stitching. I think it would look just as good. I have done that several times with patterns and they looked just as well as if I had stitched the entire background.