if you have no plans for the stripes, try washing them to see what happens.
unless you use 4 strands of floss, it's hard to cover all of the line work. i have some embroidery patterns that need dark thread also, because red would show.
i would love to use a light color. mine says "wears off". big deal. so does the thread!
but they are very pretty. have you thought about blackwork? that's very attractive and unusual. the one i saw was quite good-looking. it had both printed and solid sashing.