I am not opposed to soldering cables--I do it all the time

A couple of things to note: As usual when cutting anything to size, take your time to measure a couple of times and I would recommend that you leave a bit of “wiggle room” (about an inch for close pedals and three inches for pedals that are larger and have odd in/out connections like in the back or front etc) this will allow you to move your pedals around as you organize them (specially while using Velcro)

After 2 or 3 you'll stop making mistakes and they'll all work the first time