You can custom design needlepoint canvases for yourself. If you have bought a kit that comes with yarn, the color has probably already been decided for you. However, you can choose your own colors by designing your own canvas or getting custom design needlepoint canvases.

Types of Custom Design Needlepoint Canvases
A preworked canvas has the design already stitched for you and all you need to do is stitch the background colors in. A painted canvas has the design already painted for you, or you can choose to paint your own canvas. Most times, when you buy custom design needlepoint canvases, they are painted with the design and colors of your choice.

Sometimes designs are done on graph paper. The designers use symbols to show the different colors so you know what color to stitch in what area of the canvas. What you would do is start in the center of a blank canvas and the center of your chart. You then count how many stitches are there and work them into your design, over and over until the design is complete.

Bargello is another charted design that you begin on a blank canvas. Again, you would start in the center of the design and the center of the canvas, and work the design to the right and left. Finally, repeat the same pattern throughout your piece.