Dr. Dave

@razorpig
After I create a shape, in this case a circle > Convert to Curves (from the context menu or toolbar) > Node Tool > SHIFT select opposite nodes > Transform Mode (toolbar) > click a node + CTRL + drag

Got it.
On the line...Layer > Expand Stroke

There are two preset versions for exporting PNGs in the Affinity applications, the one titled PNG on has transparency. PNG 8 (dithered) has no transparency.

Understood. Thanks.

Well this sucks. I was starting an icon project and the original setup would have been awesome and painless. Now I'm scratching my head opening/closing two panels to sort this out. Can't get my gutters to line up with grid squares.
As others mentioned, you had it in there working and rather intuitively, but instead removed it causing a workflow bottleneck. Just bizarre and I gotta mention, so Adobe-ish.

I really appreciate your input, but I'm just not getting transform handles no matter what combination of key presses I make. I can rotate and move, but not transform like you did.
No biggie as I went through the process @Alfred suggested. Took a bit longer and IMO was kinda clunky, but it worked.

Yup, in the meantime I did something like that, but WOW it was more work than I anticipated - initially thought I was using the wrong tool.
I'm coming from Illustrator where it is a simple process with the rotate command, pick the origin point + CTRL (to duplicate) + SHIFT, (to constrain to angles) done.
Hopefully Designer gets there soon.

@Alfred Ohhh kay. Thanks for clarifying.

Well this sucks. I was starting an icon project and the original setup would have been awesome and painless. Now I'm scratching my head opening/closing two panels to sort this out. Can't get my gutters to line up with grid squares.
As others mentioned, you had it in there working and rather intuitively, but instead removed it causing a workflow bottleneck. Just bizarre and I gotta mention, so Adobe-ish.

Or so, then the line remains editable.

The layer names are just ‘(Kurve)’ and ‘(Herz)’; i.e. curve and heart. The important detail is that the layer blend mode is set to ‘Radieren’ (‘Erase’).

@firstdefence
Grasshoppa thank you.

Select the Node Tool Select the two points at the shoulder top On the Node Tool Context menu select Break curve

If I remember correctly, you can just click on the pixel button on the toolbar  to unselect it (it’s a toggle button). 
Pixel based preview is a very useful thing for people who work with web or where the output will eventually be rasterised. It enables you to draw assets that don’t have that fuzzy ‘half a pixel’ thing going on and is one of the great features of Designer, which may be why they have it enabled as default. 

Correct, but there is 'Insert behind the selection' - it's in the tool bar, also menu 'Layer > insertion > behind' so you can assign a keystroke to it - but it does make it a two-step process as you have to do that then follow it with paste - the advantage is, you can follow it with 'place' instead of 'paste' if you want

NM - duplicate object > move > CTRL + J

Check the colour profile setup for you monitors in Windows, it should be sRGB or just delete the profile showing.

The in app help in Photo and Designer are still being updated for 1.7 and will appear in a later update, sorry. However, Skew (shear) on the side handles is not new, so does skew not show when searching the (1.6) help I think it's a common enough thing to put under "shear"
 

When it´s just a straight cut you can use your line as a blueprint and establish 2 new node at the rim of the circular shape - select the 2 new points and go: Break Curve from the Action tab:

Cheers

@Aamppaa, you're right - I should have looked around. And thx for the links.

Hi, Olivier. What i meant is that, if this was really a fix, the Displacement filter would produce these results without the user having to create additional adjustment layers (Guassian blur, Black and White …) like you and the man behind Digitally Fearless have done. I think only Serif can 'fix' it; we (you and others) can only come up with creative ways (workarounds) of making this work, despite the Displacement tool doing a poor job as it comes with the software.
When you watch James Ritson's tutorial about the Displacement filter, you'll see he uses an example whereby the typeface used (Chalkduster) lends itself for the standard behaviour (the one that nobody seems to like) of the filter. He doesn't talk about other adjustments needed to get the expected results.

Thanks for that feedback. What about displacement maps - can Affinity do that or something similar? Specifically for apparel projects.